Defense doesn't want BIR chief to testify
MANILA, Philippines - The camp of Chief Justice Renato Corona will protest the move of the prosecution to include the income tax returns of the chief magistrate and his family as evidence in the impeachment trial, a defense lawyer said yesterday.
Tranquil Salvador III said the defense panel will also question the presentation of Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares as witness in the impeachment court.
“They cannot do that. It is irrelevant to the case,” Salvador said.
He said they would challenge the prosecution if and when they present Henares to the impeachment court.
Salvador argued that the release of the income tax return of any individual needs the approval of President Aquino who has been advocating the removal of Corona from office.
Aquino also heads the ruling Liberal Party, whose camp has been vocal about the impeachment of Corona.
Salvador admitted that they were saddened by the prosecution’s move to link the issue of Corona’s alleged illegally acquired wealth to the non-disclosure of the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) as discussed in Article 2 of the eight articles of impeachment.
“That’s still a dispute. We are bit saddened by this... this (process) should have been completed before the House committee of justice and determined on the outset,” he said.
Echoing the statement of a fellow counsel that the prosecution is on a fishing expedition, Salvador lamented the “investigation has become contemporaneous with the trial.”
No less that chief defense counsel Serafin Cuevas had manifested the need for his client to avail himself of a preliminary hearing prior to the actual trial.
Cuevas argued Corona was deprived of due process and his right to be heard when 188 congressmen signed the impeachment complaint and hastily filed it before the Senate last December.
But Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and the body had decided against Corona’s move for a preliminary hearing since it was not in the rules, and that the Senate, once convened as an impeachment body, should “forthwith proceed” with the trial.
Salvador said even the hands of the 23 senator-judges were tied down by the rules.
Nonetheless, Salvador said they will fight to “protect the interest of our client.”
He added the defense will possibly object or approve the offer to present the income tax returns of the chief justice and members of his family this week, which would depend “on the purpose of how they (prosecution) will present them.”
“They want the people to make the conclusions on these, presenting to the public the chief justice’s SALN and his income tax return. And say, why is this so small? And yet he got the (alleged) properties,” Salvador said.
Game changer
Salvador said they would definitely oppose the presentation of Henares as a witness.
He made the statement after the prosecution panel revealed last week that they will continue to prove that Corona enriched himself in office.
Lead House prosecutor Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. said the prosecution panel will present Henares to bolster their allegations that Corona’s income is not enough for him to be able to acquire multimillion-peso properties. Henares went to the Senate last Wednesday but was directed to return this week on the continuation of the trial.
Instead, the prosecution presented three land registrars to the witness stand to prove that Corona and his wife, Cristina, had more than the properties listed in their joint SALN.
Tupas said the prosecution is focusing on how Corona betrayed public trust in relation to his non-disclosure of SALN.
“Plunder is technical, it is a series of acts. We are proving betrayal of public trust, that is where we are focusing,” he said.
Despite the presentation of voluminous SALN documents, condominium titles, and deeds of sale, the defense camp is moving to discredit all evidence pinning down Corona over his alleged illegally acquired wealth.
Cuevas has been arguing the issue of ill-gotten wealth is not covered by Article 2 of the articles of impeachment on Corona.
He said the accusations of non-disclosure of SALN were based on mere speculation, not on “ultimate facts.”
The issue of inhibition
Corona’s lawyers, however, are wary on moves to have some of the senator-judges inhibit from the trial.
Salvador said there is no need to since Corona remains strong and steadfast in the belief that he can withstand this latest challenge in his judicial career.
Asked how he thinks Corona is taking the trial, Salvador said the chief justice “can stand for himself” even in the middle of the prosecution’s attempt to include his family in the impeachment trial.
“As it stands now, they believe that he didn’t do anything (wrong)... Apart from the chief justice, the more that the judiciary should be protected here not just for now but (for the benefit) of the coming generations,” he said.
“Whatever the impact there is on our lives. It will have impact on us as a nation. It’s not about keeping him (Corona) in office, it is also about protecting the judiciary, for anyone who sits there,” Salvador added.
Cuevas said the defense team is weighing the possible outcome or consequences if they move for the inhibition of some senator-judges.
“We are still studying it. This is a sensitive concern because we are appearing before a court with 23 judges, unlike in a (regular) court with only one judge,” he said.
“What would be the price of an act of hostility against them? I am not saying that that is possible but that is equally discernable because we are only human. They would not like it and definitely it might do something bad for us too,” he said.
The issue of inhibition cropped up when Sen. Franklin Drilon, for two consecutive days, seemed to have saved the day for the prosecution panel, initially when he was able to elicit information from SC clerk of court Enriquetta Vidal that she brought with her Corona’s SALN.
This prompted the body to let her surrender it to the court.
A national organization of judges, however, reminded the senators of their mandate to be impartial while sitting as judges in the impeachment trial.
The Metropolitan and City Judges Association of the Philippines (MetCJAP) appealed to the senators to shun political affiliations and even public opinion when they cast their votes on the guilt or acquittal of the embattled chief magistrate over the eight articles of impeachment.
“As senator-judges, they owe it to the people not only to be impartial, independent and honest but they should be perceived to be impartial, independent and honest as well,” MetCJAP president and Cagayan de Oro City Judge Cesar Merlas said in a statement.
Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, an independent analyst in the impeachment case, echoed this appeal.
He said the senators should not cast their vote in “a robotic manner” dictated by their political affiliations, but instead base their decision on evidence and rules.
Citing the separate opinion of retired Chief Justice Reynato Puno in a case involving the canvass of votes in the 2004 election of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Macalintal likened the function of senators in an impeachment trial to their function when sitting as National Board of Canvassers during presidential polls.
Macalintal said the senators, in sitting as impeachment jurors, are “not meeting as a lawmaking body” and therefore required to discharge their function “with fairness and impartiality” to come up with an “informed and intelligent judgment.”
Quoting Puno, Macalintal said the senator-judges “should keep their eyes open but should shut them off to any political light.”
“Thus, paraphrasing the scholarly views of Puno, our senators-judges are called upon to exercise their discretion with fairness and impartiality to the end that an intelligent judgment is arrived at with full assurances that the constitutional rights of the impeached official are observed and protected. For these constitutional rights are not suspended during the impeachment trial,” he said.
The MetCJAP and Macalintal made the appeal after four days of hearings in the impeachment court last week.
Observers had criticized Drilon for supposedly aiding the prosecutors in advancing their case.
Several quarters have already reportedly called for his inhibition with former senator Francisco Tatad, who was observing the proceedings, calling the senator as “Prosecutor Drilon.”
“While the perceived partiality of Senator-Judge Drilon may not be entirely without basis, I believe that as man of the law he will do what is fair and just,” the MetCJAP said.
The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) already made the same appeal for impartiality of senators before the trial started last week.
“Even more empathic is the solemn oath taken by the senator-judges in hearing the case of Chief Justice Corona - ‘to do impartial justice according to the Constitution and the law of the Philippines.’ And an impartial justice can only be based on facts and evidence and not on personal sentiments or swings of public opinion,” the IBP said in a statement. - With Edu Punay
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Di ba bukang bibig ng mga
Di ba bukang bibig ng mga lawyer ebedensya,witness?Eh anong problema ngayon kung magwithness si Henares?Eh kung wala naman matutuklasang anomalya eh di take this apportunity na mapatunayan na ang dinedepesahan nyong si CORONA ay malinis.Iharap na ang dapat iharap para mapabilis ang impeacement kais marami pang kaso ang kailangan litisin.
prostituted aliies
while our neighboring ASEAN countries are busy discussing about their respective economies, the philippine government is too busy in their work to impeach the head of the supreme court perceived by the boy in the palace as an obstruction to his daang matuwid. this is despite that the global economy is in the midst of double-dip recession.
just recently, rounds of oil increase bothered the transport sector. the transport sector is asking an increase in fares due to unabated increase in the price of imported oil. late last year, maynilad announced an increase in water rates. butch abad last year announced that noy's govt is considering to introduce new taxes. the peso devalued almost everyday threatening to widen poverty in our country. our quarterly gdp is continuing is downward trend that recently recorded 3.2 gdp a far cry from our neighboring countries gdp that also suffered from global economic crisis. indonesia for example got 6.5 percent, while vietnam and singapore got 6.1 and malaysia recorded 5.8 gdp.
philippines under noy's watch was tagged as one of the world’s mostly unfree countries in the 2012 Index of Economic Freedom published by Wall Street journal.
it was also last year that the philippines was one of the countries who got the lowest investment in ASIA. the country was even declared as the worse country for investors in east of ASIA. according to a survey firm, self rated poverty is high despite of the 21 billion budget for govt. dole out campaign known as CCT.
the world bank lowered our growth projection this year. our mediocre growth caused our economy to lose momentum not to mention opportunities. prices of basic commodities are going up, even NFA and commercial rice are up since this govt. took office. the philippines also ranked poor dropping two notches in the world
competitiveness ranking. the country continues to rank poor in terms of infrastructure. this can be attributed to govt's much vaunted PPP that up until now, doesn't have a single project currently implemented. this govt. also failed to attract foreign investors to fund various govt. projects (ODA) due to unjustified cancellations of projects signed by the previous admin. this resulted to loose of trust and confidence on the part of foreign investors. the investments pledges (amounting to 1 billion dollar) that pnoy bragged about during his tour around the world still has nothing to show off.
last year, we've been witness to the president's tirades against the chief justice renato corona. this was done during the forum organized by no less than the supreme court. president aquino was expected to discuss cooperation. however, nothing is heard about the aforesaid subject, what the public saw was an enraged aquino who's obviously cannot contain his rage against the chief justice. the members of the judiciary witnessed a mad and foul-tongued chief executive berating the chief justice. inspite of unfavorable comments regarding the president's ill-timed display of despicable behavior, the incident repeated in several occasions. a loosened maverick is in full display.
then came in the decision of the supreme court voting unanimously ordering HLI (cojuangco-aquino family) to distribute the hacienda to poor farmers of luisita. quickly after the aforesaid ruling of the SC, noynoy and his prostituted allies in congress met in a restaurant and device a plan to impeach the chief justice. speaker belmonte was assigned to ensure getting the right numbers to impeach the CJ in congress. while tupaz and the rest will ensure that the filing of the impeachment case would be done immediately.
on several occasions, belmonte confirmed in his interviews that noynoy texted him thanking him for a job well done. this happened after the rail-roaded impeachment reached the senate. the malacanan mouthpieces including lacierda was even quoted using the word "we" when referring to the house prosecution panel. Llmas who also doesn't have business with corona's impeachment was also vocal about the CJ's impeachment. what happened to separation of powers? ask if the palace is meddling with the congress action to impeach the CJ, malacanan spin doctors are quick to deny it and claimed that it was an independent move on the part of congress. however, recently, it was no less than pnoy that confirmed that corona's impeachment was the handiwork of his political party LP. he even thanked them and his prostituted allies and claimed that it is the brightest moment of the party. this proves that noynoy and his mouthpieces / lapdogs are lying to their teeth in claiming that the palace has got nothing to do with corona's impeachment.
the articles of impeachment was railroaded despite the fact that the constitutional requirement of verification wasn't met. even after the senate already presided as an impeachment court, the political machination remained unabated. lead prosecutor tupaz jr. called for a press conference and presented evidences before the public regarding corona's allege list properties of corona. however, as the hearing of the impeachment case progress, it was proven that their accusation (article 2) of corona's non-disclosure of SALN wasn't even true. it has been proven that the CJ regularly files his SALN and is available in SC and even in malacanan. since the prosecution panel's accusation in article 2 can be easily proven wrong, the are now trying to digress the issue to corona's allege ill-gotten wealth. however, this issue has been questioned the the defense claiming the issue was not even included in article two which only alleges corona from non-filing of SALN. the defense further argued that any evidence arising from such claim is no longer admissible following the rules of evidence. during the senate hearing, the prosecution failed to show certified true copies of titles and properties insofar as CJ's SALN is concerned. they also failed to show individuals that will testify on the signatures and certify relevant documents, yet the prosecution has the nerve to expose allege "evidence" with questionable validity to the public.
the issue of admissibility of the evidence presented by the prosecution panel was left hanging since JPE decided that the impeachment court will rule on it once the evidence were formally presented. during the last hearing, the prosecution claimed that corona's assets have increased by 8 million from the period of 2009 - 2010. however, they failed to mention that corona gained 8 million from the proceeds of the sale during 2010. this will justify the increase of 8 million. most of the public officials share an upward trend in so far as their SALN is concerned. even pnoy's SALN have increased ever since he joined the government. i personally do not know a public official who's assets have decreased after joining public office.
we can now officially say that our legislators metamorphosed into a lynching mob of noynoy. the sad part about this is that people are being witness to the
usurpation of our democracy perpetrated by a leader who's acting like a tyrant. this is creeping martial law and the stamp pad congress will submit to pnoy's will because the executive has the power of purse. the congress is able to railroad the impeachment against corona while proposed laws languish for decades in congress. this govt. can't even pass the FOI bill that has been languishing in the back-burner for 15 years. is pnoy afraid that it can be used against him and his prostituted allies in congress (79 of them have pending graft charges in the office of the ombudsman)? for the mean time, let us wait for another round of cock and bull story coming from the prostituted allies of pnoy disseminated by yellow media including that giant media conglomerate that has to thank cory for surrendering MERALCO to their family.
so, your point is?
so, your point is?
pano ka ba maglinis ng bahay o bakuran
di ba pagmaglilinis ka ng dumi magumpisa kang alisin ang mga nabubulok sa sulok sulok?otherwise nandon pa din ang dumi kung lilinisin mo lang yung kalat na nakikita ng mata mo kaya nga walang pagbabago sa sistema dahil laging nilalampasan ang bulok kaya don pa din patuloy sa paggawa ng kabulukan ang mga nasa govt.di nilinis.Panahon an para mapaansin nag kabulukan at iwaksi saka makakaramdam ng ginhawa at makakakilos ng maayos.
nangangatog!
takot na takot yata ang defense team ni corona na lumabas and mga tinatago ng chief swindler na si corona. if kim henares speaks, corona will be history - going, going, gone! corona's secret will be laid bare. his dirty linen shown, washed and ironed in public.
let kim henares talk. if its really really true that corona is lily white, a devout christian through and through and blameless as the day he was born, then, his defense team has nothing to fear. absolutely.
@glusturio
your comment is not worth reading. you must be rewriting corona's dissertation, the one he failed to submit at law school, ha,ha, ha. you must be good buddy with the people who plagiarized m.v. pangilinan's speech from the internet a year ago, ha, ha, ha.
Philippines Needs a Jesus Revolution
Mga kababayan sa buong sanlibutan, makinig kayo.
Ito talaga ang problema ng ating bansa kaya hanggang ngayon very poor parin tayo, malayong-malayo pa na maka-take-off.
Ang problema natin ay ang ating pang-gobyerno. Our government is over-politicized. Almost everyone is sariling kapakanan lang ang iniisip in the guise of serving the people.
We need to have a change of our government especially our politicians. Mga kababayan dapat matuto na tayo. Let us be mature. Mga politicians, magising na kayo and be convicted with the faith in God and start for a paradigm shift in your ultimate intentions.
Ang ating president na si PNoy is no different from the past presidents. His vision is nothing out of the ordinary. What we need are visionaries starting from the president. Kaso ang president natin ay isang SPOILED BRAT, stubborn at sariling kapakanan parin ang iniisip kahit na mag-anarkiya na ang bansa natin. Itong impeachcment na ‘to, HACIENDA LUISITA ang hidden motive nito. The Cojuangcos thru PNoy are moving heaven and earth na mabalik sa kanila ang HACIENDA by removing Corona or a possible reversal of the decision once Corona is removed or a possible payment from government for the Hacienda worth P5B instead of P196M. But they cleverly project the issue of impeachment in the guise of reforming the SC thru publicity, and never in PNoy’s speeches did he mention regarding the Hacienda. Very ironic. Noon pa siya sinupalpal ng SC but he’s only very OA in maligning the SC after the decision of the Luisita case came out, yet maintained mum on the issue. He was in disguise – a wolf in a sheep’s clothing.
As a challenge to PNoy and to all lawmakers. Since being over-politicization is the root cause of poverty, PNoy should spearhead the following:
1. No more PORK BARRELS
- It is the main reason that many run for government positions, spent millions of pesos in lieu of the meager salary. Can you reconcile the logic there?
- It is the main reason of partisanship issue. It gives the president the control of congressmen and senators.
- It is the reason why prosecutors grandstand in this impeachment, exposing themselves to media or public presenting whatever unverified documents for the sake of publicity. These congressmen have also their hidden motive in gaining mileage in running for a higher government position (senator) in the next election.
Sobra na. Masyado nang kawawa ang inang bayan. Just take a look at SINGAPORE. It’s only a very small country (more or less same with Cebu province), with no natural resources, practically everything is imported (vegetables, etc.). Even their water was being supplied by Malaysia. Yet their country is very rich, very stable economy, their 1 dollar is equivalent to P33. Can you see the logic? Hindi ba tayo mahihiya nito?
Ang president natin is only 10% looking forward and almost 100% looking backward, palaging singly putting the blame to GMA. Yon lang ba talaga ang gusto nyang legacy? PNoy should level-up and be visionary. His economic programs are nothing out of the ordinary.
If you are quite sure with
If you are quite sure with your allegations, then file a case to the court and not here, otherwise it will be treated as mere propaganda. Why didn't you questioned the 9 years presidency of GMA? Did she make the currency exchange rate better? Nope, it is still within P43+=$1 or P33+/-=1 Singaporean dollar. The topic here is about Corona.
Also, do not use the name of God in vain.
The hole is getting deeper
The hole is getting deeper.
Corona, you're in deep shit now. Too late to resign. Should have done it earlier.
___________________________________
'The Impossible Dream' of Corona.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nlqd6DwUsQ&context=C3bd6085ADOEgsToPDskJ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVRmaEX-twM&context=C3bd6085ADOEgsToPDskJ...
Evidences must be presented first to determine the relevance
Syempre mag-ooppose ang defense team para nga naman di lumabas ang tutuo! Paanong naging irrelevant ang BIR eh dun makikita kung
1) Tama ba ang binayarang Capital Gains Tax and Doc Stamp o baka dinaya ang deed of absolute sale para mababa ang bayaran.
2) Kaya ba ng sweldo nya talaga na bumili ng super daming properties tulad ng una nyang sinabi. Hindi na ba sila kumakain para masave lang pera nila pambili ng properties?
3) Kailangang i-cross verify ang mga documents against submitted SALN para malaman kung may discrepancies.
Di ba naka certified ang SALN ni Corona to the best of his knowledge and information, that SALN at tsaka malinaw sa batas at sa "SALN form and disclosure" na pinirmahan ni CJ Corona, na ino-authorize nya ang Ombudsman or duly representative to secure and obtain from all appropriate agencies including BIR not only his SALN but also his spouse, unmarried children under 18 (so i-check kung ilang taon ang anak nya nong na-acquired yung asset), business interests and financial connections (buhay pa ba ang inutangan nya kuno nuon, at dapat makita rin ang audited financial statements ng company ng family ng wife nya kung talagang capable na magpautang ng malaking halaga. Baka kasi bankcrupt na yun at nagsara eh paano pa sya makakautang dun?
Hindi pa man inilalabas, paanong nalaman ng defense team na irrelevant yun?? Halatang-halata naman! I-present muna saka ang Senator-Judges ang magdedetermine kung relevant or irrelevant yun at hindi ang defense. Masyadong dinidelay ng Objection team ay defense team ang proseso eh, may kinatatakutan ba silang mabuking?