'Calling journalists, justices to witness stand horribly wrong'
Posted at 01/29/2012 4:39 PM | Updated as of 01/29/2012 7:25 PM
Defense: Let us not destroy our institutions
MANILA, Philippines -- A lawyer has criticized plans of the prosecution to call to the witness stand more than 100 witnesses, including journalists and justices of the Supreme Court.
In his Facebook account, lawyer Ted Te said: “Putting media practitioners as well as sitting Supreme Court Justices as possible witnesses is just simply horribly wrong. Not only does it leave the trial open to a challenge that it was, after all, the institution of the SC itself that is now being tried, it also opens a door that should, at the moment, remain closed.”
He said bringing justices to the court also weakens the institutions put up by the Constitution. He said the magistrates should collectively decline such a plan.
“Similarly, calling media practitioners to testify on work product is indicative of a short cut approach to finding the truth; much of the work that media has done in reporting these matters is already part of the public consciousness and may already be considered subject of the collective, institutional and even personal knowledge of the Senate, acting as jury; there is really no need to call media practitioners to testify,” he said.
Several journalists have already asked the prosecution team not to present them as witnesses, including Marites Vitug and Criselda Yabes.
The journalists are only two of the more than 100 witnesses that the prosecution wants to testify in the eight articles of impeachment against Chief Justice Renato Corona.
‘Let us not drag the media into the picture’
In a separate statement, the defense also criticized the plans of the prosecution.
The “prosecution has pierced the veil of confidentiality with the [income tax returns], let us not drag the media and place it on the witness stand. The Media is not on trial here. Prove your case by doing your work in research and litigation,” defense spokesperson and lawyer Karen Jimeno said.
She said the media has three basic roles, which is to inform, educate and entertain, “even if some have gone further, they have a unique role.”
The defense lawyers also took exception to the plan of the prosecution to subpoena the magistrates.
“Is the Prosecution saying they need the other Justices to rat against the Chief Justice and against each other on how they voted on a particular case?” lawyer Rico Quicho asked.
Jimeno added this would step on the time-honored confidentiality in the disposition of cases.
‘Think out of the box’
Te, who is in the United States on a scholarship, also questioned why the prosecution would need around 100 witnesses.
He said it is indicative of two things.
“It believes that its case is so weak that it needs that many witnesses to prove something that should be, on its face, already self-evident, and it hopes that, along the way, someone will do a Clarissa Ocampo and turn the tide irreversibly in its favor,” he said.
Ocampo was the whistle-blower who said that then President Joseph Estrada was the one who signed the “Jose Velarde” accounts, where jueteng money was supposedly deposited.
“Either way, it doesn't look good for the prosecution simply because disclosing its own belief that it takes that many witnesses to prove that Corona is unfit to continue as Chief Justice sends to the Senate the wrong message--that perhaps the truth isn't as clear and that perhaps the doubt should be resolved in favor of retaining him in office,” Te said.
He said it’s not too late for the prosecution to rethink its strategies.
Printer-friendly version
Send to friend
Share your views
Pnoy loosing ground
2013 is again election time. sana naman matuto na tayong mga pilipino. our vote should not be influenced by family ties, popularity & circumstances that led the candidate to run for office. take for example the case of Pnoy > as expected the scrupolous trapos who wants to make sure of a good ride to winning, took advantage of mdm cory's passing & urge him to run & replace a better & more experienced candidate. leadership is not all about being a bankable candidate, its all about commitment & honest to goodness mandate. same is true with cory, the politicians that surrounds her urge her to run and take advantage of the prevailing emotion of the filipino people in the passing of Ninoy. But at least Cory was a better & respected president. So I guess it is not always true na "Kung ano Puno ay sya ang Bunga", as in the case of Pnoy. Sana Pnoys lapses & lack of good & fair judgement would not in any way dampen the good name of his parents & drag us further to economic crisis. We should star to look for candidates w/the highest moral standards & not the highest campaign fundsshow more show
Credible witnesses only
Calling all sorts of witnesses on the stand for this case will just drag the trial to unnecesssary length of time. Although the prosecutors can but the defense is allowed also to "kicked them out one by one" on certain reasons. The people would like to know the result as soon as possible so everybody can move on with their lives. There are tons of work that these lawmakers need to do aside from sitting in this circus show costing the taxpayers more money.
Ted Te
Folks, the Ted Te that some are lambasting in their comments here is actually the same Ted Te who is pro-administration and is a regular resource person of ABS-CBN on legal issues from time to time. You rarely see him nowadays because he is out of the country attending school. Oh, and by the way, I believe he is actually Filipino-Chinese. Just saying...
T Te
Nakikisasaw ka na naman T Te.
SOO WHAAAT?
If that is what it takes to ferret out the truth, why not? I am not a lawyer but I have a clear common sense of understanding to know the difference between what is right and what is wrong, what is moral and what is immoral. Simple as that. This impeachment process is clearly not a regular trial, where so many technicalities involve regarding presentation of evidence, admissibility issues not counting the countless never ending objections from both parties. We want the truth and nothing but the truth. In the court of public opinion Mr. Corona is no longer fit to lead the Supreme court. Why is he still waging this battle? To prove that he is not guilty of the charges? That he is not Gloria Arroyo’s puppet? Just in this particular article of impeachment, a simple ordinary Juan de la Cruz clearly understands that Corona’s known properties (how about the unknown?) is more than what he and his family can afford. Lawyers are lawyers. They just love to dance in the court, blabbing and peddling their trade, as if they are the smartest people in the land at the expense of poor Juan de la Cruz. Enough already with these Legal maneuverings of the highest paid lawyers and clowns. The senate, as mandated by the constitution, should resolve this process, the soonest and fairly as it can in a reasonable period of time. Attorney Te, I don’t know who you are, but from my point of view you are just one of those lawyers suffering attention deficit disorder. No one is above the law not even the interpreter, messenger or the executioner. So whatever it takes, lets get these things done so we can move on. Mabuhay Pangulong PNOY and your team! God bless !
Less than 20 strong witnesses are enough
The prosecution team should not drag and prolong this impeachment trial and make themselves look bad if they have sufficient evidence to convict him. Less than 20 strong witnesses are enough. It will prevent most of the 100 witnesses from doing their work as public servants who have more important matters to take care. In the end it will depend of the senator-judges decision. They'll be doing a favor to tax payers if they keep this impeachment trial under 4 months.
lawyer Ted Te
lawyer Ted Te who? kakilala siguro ng author...
@rando
I totally agree with you. this atty ted le is traitorous if not moronic. he should be making comments about his native china and the human right abuses there, not about our country he knows little about. he's jumping on the bandwagon and hopes to get known.
Right vs. Wrong
I am a Pinoy supporter but I do not support the way this administration is trampling on the judiciary just because the administration does not like its co-equal branch of government. Part of being a democratic nation is the ability of leaders to be able to agree to disagree. Corona's rights have been and are being violated everyday by the administration, these so called congressmen and ABS-CBN. Corona is being tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. The prosecution's case is very weak because of flimsy evidence and incompetent prosecutors who are not worthy to be trying cases of this magnitude. They are in way over their heads. To say that the administration's goal of impeaching Corona is part of "Daang Matuwid" is like saying it's acceptable and just to salvage accused criminals without giving them due process. Corona was not given due process by the House of Representatives and ABS-CBN continues to aid in convicting Corona in the court of public opinion.
I agree
I'm a neutral person also and just because you don't like the people you are working with, it shouldn't be the reason for stopping you to work and all you've got to do is to work harder just like in any working place. There will be differences of opinions and characters because we are born different from each other and only a GREAT leader can make "different talented, skilled and experienced people work" in unison, efficiently and effectively.