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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Senators deny defense motion for exclusion

Bank documents accepted
By JP LOPEZ

THE Senate sitting as an impeachment court yesterday shot down the motion of lawyers of Chief Justice Renato Corona to exclude from court records documents on the magistrate’s bank accounts, which were allegedly illegally acquired.

"The court has arrived at a decision and ruling that it will deny the motion to suppress and accept the evidence for the consideration of the court in connection with Article II of the Articles of Impeachment," presiding judge Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said.

Article II of the eight Articles of Impeachment accuses Corona of not disclosing his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) and not declaring all his assets in the SALN.

The decision was made after a closed-door meeting of senator-judges yesterday afternoon.

The Corona camp said it would oppose the ruling.

Lawyer Ramon Esguerra said the defense would insist that such evidence is "the fruit of a poisonous tree."

"Nonetheless, we need to also await the ruling on the entirety of documents offered by the prosecution, our objections over them being due still tomorrow (Wednesday). We expect the impeachment court to rule on them soon. Please note that we can and we will still object to these bank documents and accounts," he also said.

Enrile said the court will release "a lengthy, formal, written decision or ruling" with regards to documents on Corona’s bank accounts on Monday when the impeachment court resumes trial.

The defense panel last week asked the court to junk as evidence documents on the bank accounts of Corona which the prosecution has presented to prove its allegation that Corona failed to include in his SALN his local and foreign currency deposits at the Philippine Savings Bank.

The prosecution is saying Corona has at least P84 million in undeclared wealth.
The defense has said the bank documents and the testimonies of PSBank president Pascual Garcia III and PSBank branch manager Annabelle Tiongson were based on illegally acquired specimen signature cards which were attached to the prosecution’s request for subpoena.

The prosecution has said copies of the bank documents were provided to it by a "small lady" last month.

Enrile said the bank records could not be considered "fruits of the poisonous tree" because they were not obtained through illegal search by the government or any of its agencies.

"There’s no clear showing that it was done by the government and so far as the facts indicate, there’s no question that this alleged bank deposit account numbers exist. And if the release was done by private parties, this will not be covered by the constitutional exclusion rules," he said.

He explained: "The provision of the Bill of Rights found in Section 2 of Article 3 as well as the provision of art 3, subparagraph 1 are supposed to be excluded when there is a violation of Section 2 of Article 3 of the Constitution especially when the unwarranted search or arrest is done by the state or her agents, like the police, the NBI and other law enforcement people."

Enrile also said documents on Corona’s purported foreign currency deposits will be admitted by the court if presented.

"As far as the admissibility of the evidence presented both for the so-called foreign currency deposits and as well as the local currency deposits, since there are no provisions in two republic acts involved excluding illegally released documents of bank accounts, then we are going to accept the offer of evidence from this particular article, Article 2," he said.

Enrile said Republic Act 1405, dealing with local currency deposits, and Republic Act 6426, dealing with foreign currency deposits, "do not include exclusion provision, meaning provision that expressly, excludes or proscribes the admissibility of the records of bank deposits when they are illegally released to the public."

The defense panel is expected to file an objection to the formal offer of evidence by the prosecution panel. Lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas has said the defense might seek reprieve from the Supreme Court if the Senate admits the bank documents as evidence.

Enrile said, "Let the SC decide the case. If they feel there is a violation of RA 6426, so be it but that violation does not imply or mean that the evidence that was released in violation of the law should not be admitted as evidence."

The House prosecution panel last week submitted to the impeachment court its formal offer of evidence, including Corona’s records with the Bank of the Philippine Islands and PSBank.

Enrile said the impeachment court will issue a separate ruling on the formal offer of evidence by the prosecution also on Monday.

Enrile also said that as far as the withdrawal of five of the Articles of Impeachment (I, IV, V, VI, and VIII), the court would only decide on the three articles tackled before the impeachment court.

ADMONISHED
The impeachment court also yesterday ruled to admonish private prosecutor Vitaliano Aguirre for disrespecting Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago last week, sparing him from Senate detention.

Aguirre has already resigned as private prosecutor, saying he has become a liability to the prosecution team.

The Senate last week cited Aguirre in contempt for covering his ears while Santiago was lecturing the House prosecution panel for dropping the five articles of impeachment.

Enrile said, "In view of circumstances, unusual circumstances…that surrounded the incident, the impeachment court although there’s evidence of an act considered as contemptuous, the court will not impose a penalty with respect to laws on freedom but simply admonish him (Aguirre) to be more careful."

Santiago said it was "the correct penalty" and "justice had been done."

She said as a regional trial court judge, she had been in such situations "where the lawyer is overrun by the heat of the moment and then he commits, in the very presence of the judge, some misbehavior."

Santiago, however, said Aguirre just wanted to get public attention.

‘JUST RESIGN’
House majority leader Neptali Gonzales said the best remaining option for Corona, who is being urged to appear before the impeachment court, is to resign.

"If he feels that by appearing personally mababastos siya and mababastos yung institution, he can prevent that, and he can do that by resigning. Mag-resign na lang siya kung ayaw niyang mapahiya at ayaw niyang mapahiya ang institution. Yun ang malinaw na option niya," he said.

Deputy speaker Lorenzo Tañada III, a prosecution spokesman, said the Senate’s decision to admit the evidence on Corona’s bank accounts "is another nail added to the coffin of betrayal of public trust on Article II."

"We would like to believe so," he said, when asked if they smell conviction. "Sa nakikita namin, pwede ng sabihan na malalagay sa alanganin si Chief Justice Corona lalo na kung hindi siya tetestigo sa susunod na lingo. If he’s not afraid to hide anything, then he has to testify."

Another spokesman, Rep. Miro Quimbo, said with the Senate’s decision on the bank documents, the defense is left with no choice but to present Corona as witness to personally defend himself against charges of betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.

"If they want their client to be exonerated, they need to present him before the impeachment tribunal," he said. – With Evangeline de Vera and Wendell Vigilia

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