Quimbo: Corona defense 'abandoning trial'
MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE) - Prosecution panel spokesman Miro Quimbo on Wednesday said the defense team is now abandoning the impeachment process and pinning their hopes on the Supreme Court to stop the trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
"The defense has practically today abandoned the impeachment trial. They are putting all their marbles with the Supreme Court and I feel with the way they're acting, this is just pure conjecture, they know they have the numbers," he said in an ANC interview.
Corona, through his defense team, on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to stop the impeachment proceedings at the Senate, saying the latter is being forced to rule on a faulty complaint.
Quimbo said the move to seek relief from the Supreme Court is the "last stand" of the defense to prevent the release of Corona's bank records to the Senate.
He said the Constitution states that the Senate will be sole trier of impeachment cases precisely because it did not want an impeachable officer like the Chief Justice "seemingly in a corner and not wanting to show evidence will now have to seek recourse at tulong sa kanyang mga kasama."
"Look at the petition: How strange is that. You have the petition. Petitioner hereby the Chief Justice seeks the Supreme Court...relief from the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice is seeking relief from his own roof," he said.
Quimbo noted the Supreme Court had already issued a temporary restraining order in the past stopping a co-equal body, in this case the House of Representatives, during the impeachment of then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.
He also said that 7 of the Supreme Court magistrates have been attending all of the rallies that air support for Corona. "I hope that all of these justices will not also participate," he said.
Corona not given 'due process'
For his part, Corona's lawyer Dennis Manalo said the defense went to the Supreme Court because it is considered the final arbiter especially when instrumentalities of government commit grave abuse of discretion.
He denied that the defense is setting aside the trial, saying only that it disagrees with some of the resolutions of the impeachment court.
Asked about Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile's statement that he will not tolerate any order to stop the impeachment trial, Manalo said they were very careful in the wording of the petition because it delves into the jurisdiction of the Senate in the case.
"What we were tying to convey really is that the impeachment complaint per se is already defective because the respondent here, CJ Corona, was not given due process when it was raised in the Senate. Isinusubo po ng Lower House yung complaint sa Senado e ang Senado hirap na hirap na lagyan ng kahulugan ang reklamo," he said.
Asked why the defense did not file the petition sooner, he said the defense was disallowed from presenting evidence during a preliminary hearing.
"The Senate was too liberal in accommodating the prosecution. When we started here, they were looking at the Lower House as a partner in Parliament. The Senate was trying to extend as much courtesy to the Lower House," he said.
He added that the senators are now having second thoughts on why they took cognizance of the complaint "because even if the allegations in the complaint were true, assuming that those are true, it does not rise to the level of an impeachable offense."
Corona has right to ask SC relief
Other defense lawyers also gave their reasons why Corona petitioned the SC to stop his impeachment trial.
Lawyer Rico Quicho said the filing of petition for certiorari is not an extraordinary event because any person can go to the Supreme Court to ask for interpretation of the law."There are times during the impeachment trial that there were decisions or resolutions that is not anchored in law," he said.
"Sa pagtakbo ng paglilitis ay may kamaliang nangyayari at may mga kakulangan. Mayroon kaming karapatan at ngayon sumasangguni kami sa Supreme Court para maisaayos ang mali na nangyayari," he added.
"We are just defending the rights of our client."
Quicho said the decision to ask the SC to stop the Corona trial was not done overnight. He noted that the trial was now bordering on persecuting the Chief Justice.
He also denied that the issuance of a TRO by the Supreme Court will spark a constitutional crisis.
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I just noticed a comment from
I just noticed a comment from i_am_pluma... she is so biased with all her comment against the administration. kung sino ung mga taong tumutulong para umunlad ang bansa natin ay sya namang binabatikos.kaya kawawang pilipinas di na umasenso dahil may kagaya nya.
The Truth has to come out
Irrespective of what people perseve to be the opinions or acts of others. What matters is the truth! What political aspirations or plans others have, should not affect the truth. The question is the integrity of a Supreme Court Justice. If any doubt is established with regards to his integrity, then he should be replaced.
Any entity who interferes with the search for the truth should be questioned on its intent. Independence rules should be observed, while the procedings are ongoing.
It is only by going through the due process will we all be able to clearly understand, if there is basis for the doubt or if the doubt has no bearing.
Defense No Way to Go.
This abandonment is expected. Defense has no other option because of lack of substantial arguments to answer the charges, particularly the peso and dollar accounts.
I also noticed even the supporters of Corona has no arguments to offer but attack those who are presenting facts, like Raissa Robles.
Is it also true that Raissa Robles is a KLEPTOMANIAC?
REPOSTING BLOG FROM BENIGNO
Recently we exhibited the most current case study of the banal bias that top-dog Filipino media network ABS-CBN consistently applies in its “news reporting” when it featured as its top headline a blog post by “investigative journalist” Raissa Robles on the alleged vast United States property portfolio held by Chief Justice Renato Corona.
According to Robles, the information that went into this “report” was obtained “through ‘crowdsourcing’ in her blog”. By this, she means that she was given “leads” by a mob of readers and commentators who follow and participate in the “discussion” on the comment threads of her blog — a self-styled “Plaza Miranda” of Filipino “netizens”.
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Crowdsourcing Raissa Robles’s shoplifting allegations
March 28, 2012
By benign0
Recently we exhibited the most current case study of the banal bias that top-dog Filipino media network ABS-CBN consistently applies in its “news reporting” when it featured as its top headline a blog post by “investigative journalist” Raissa Robles on the alleged vast United States property portfolio held by Chief Justice Renato Corona.
According to Robles, the information that went into this “report” was obtained “through ‘crowdsourcing’ in her blog”. By this, she means that she was given “leads” by a mob of readers and commentators who follow and participate in the “discussion” on the comment threads of her blog — a self-styled “Plaza Miranda” of Filipino “netizens”.
For those who are not familiar with the buzzword, “crowdsourcing” is turn-of-the-century consultingspeak for the process of obtaining the sort of information Pontius Pilate worked with when he had Jesus Christ crucified. In short, it is not a new concept. Like the good consultants that concocted the Y2K scam that built the tech carpetbagging empires of the late 1990′s, Robles merely applied a glossy coat of tech-speak over a medieval approach to inquiry. She follows the tradition of other famous atrocities that justified themselves on groundwork laid by “crowdsourcing” — the Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, and the Holocaust to name a few.
To be fair, perhaps we live in a society where the mantra “if we can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” has proven to be an excellent survival strategy. Indeed, Philippine politics and governance is built upon that elegantly simple philosophy. So let’s apply a bit of Robles’s investigative expertise to our own mini-Inquisition on the perceived “fairness” and “objectivity” of some Philippine media honchos, shall we?
Since Robles is in the habit of using only one “crowd” as her “source”, perhaps we should also lazily confine our journey to a single crowd as well — the netizens of pioneering discussion forum PinoyExchange.com (PEx). In the thread titled “On Karen Davila, Raissa Robles, ABS-CBN, Inquirer and other members of Yellow media”, the crowd has spoken. Tele-journalist Karen Davila is perceived to be “neutral” though one commentor called her “an airhead” who only speaks English with the right accent and tends to disproportionately agree a lot with “Senator” Antonio Trillanes. Former vice president Noli de Castro is also perceived to be neutral (perhaps a tad critical of the present administration of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquuno III), though some call him Noli “Kabayad”.
One commentor came to Davila’s defense (responding to the “airhead” dismissal) but also provided a counterbalance to his/her said defense…
She’s probably a good person, and is one of the most well known news readers sa Pilipinas, pero di ko talaga gusto style nya ["though I really don't like her style"].
Parang medyo mababaw ang pinag huhugutan, at medyo forced ang style nya na gawing ["A bit shallow and rather forced in a way that makes..."] more important and historic and earth shattering yung news than it actually is.
But it seems that there is consensus that Conrado de Quiros, Ted Failon, Rene Saguisag, Willie Esposo, and of course Raissa Robles are biased in favour — perhaps even under the payroll — of the ruling Aquino-Cojuangco feudal clan. Some words used to describe them include “ultimate Aquino Apologist”, “real yellow media zombies”, “Noytard”, etc. The “crowd” there was also quite convinced that “social news network” Rappler.com is as Yellow a media operation as yellow gets. Reacting to the way Davila retweeted Robles’s tweet, “Pls. compare Villaruz’ testimony with my piece interviewing Dumayas. He signed actual tax declaration 4 Corona condo http://bit.ly/wdV8MR”, a PEx member there observed:
umepal na naman sa Twitter ang Yellow zombies na sina Karen Davila at Raissa Robles. here’s a Tweet of Yellow Zombie Raissa that was retweeted by fellow Yellow Zombie Karen … [above quote of tweet followed]
Translation of Tagalog parts: “Yellow zombies Karen Davila and Raissa Robles are grandstanding on Twitter again…”
…which was followed by a query on whether both (or maybe just Robles) wrote for Rappler.com — it seems, a natural assumption considering that Rappler.com is seen to be “so yellow [too]“. As another observed while, at the same time, indicting veteran tele-journalist Cheche Lazaro as another one of them “yellows”: “Cheche Lazaro is, if i’m not mistaken, one of the founders of Rappler. we all know what Rappler’s real color is.” It seems that many in the “crowd” mistakenly consider Robles to be a Rappler.com conscript as one observed that “naglalabas ng lagim ngayon ang rappler.com since nawasak ang prosecution” (“The gloves are off at Rappler.com now that the Prosecution case had been demolished”) in reaction to the posts “hindi pa rin nagbago itong si Raissa Robles” (“Raissa Robles still hasn’t changed”) and “ginagawa lang ni Raissa ang trabaho na ipinatrabaho sa kanya” (“Raissa is just doing the job she was commissioned to do”).
Some of the dynamics between supposed “Twitter friends” Davila and Robles raised eyebrows…
Just in DZMM.
Reporting about the alleged properties.
Vic Lima: Who’s Raissa Robles??? Blogger ba yan?
Karen Davilla: (quiet, no answer)
I find it odd that they “seem” to be “acting” that they don’t know her all of a sudden. Aren’t Karen and Raissa twitter friends? I find it hard to believe that for once Karen has no comment nor a backgrounder on said person.
It seems the “crowd” had noticed the way Davila suddenly distanced herself from Robles after her status as a blogger (given undue profile by Davila’s employer) came to light.
And this…
Anthony Taberna just now stated on air that Raissa Robles is a contributing reporter for ABS-CB[N].
Um. Didn’t Vic Lima and Karen Davila [get] a memo/notice about their co-worker?
Quite peculiar indeed.
The plot thickens as another member of the “crowd” noted just yesterday, the 27th March that “Karen just confirmed that she does not know Raissa ‘personally’ and that her work is ‘balanced journalism’. Let’s hold on to this.”
Most intriguing of all was a post as of 3:22 am (Philippine time) today, the 28th of March…
gash! is it also true that Raissa Robles is a KLEPTOMANIAC?!
She was caught in a posh botique shop somewhere in greenhills (one of my amiga personally know the owner of the shop and we have shops in greenhills din no, so ang news madaling kumalat yan! hahaha!) and her husband only arranged to the owner of the shop not to file charges as an exchange she will undergo a psychiatric evaluation!
As of this time, that piece of information remains unverified. But then, hey, if über network ABS-CBN News is in the business of publishing “unverified” reports delivered to them from “investigative journalist” wannabes, then I suppose there’s no harm in highlighting a few choice gems from the PEx “crowd”, right? What was the term again? Oh yeah, crowdsourcing.
Well there it is. To give credit to myself, I used a “crowd” for my sources that is not directly affiliated with moi. Can’t say the same for some “investigative journalists”.
new breed of principled men
noynoy aquino dipping his hand on the impeachment process is one big mistake that a chief executive shouldn't do. although marcos is a dictator, atleast, he did not dare touch the supreme court or its justices. in comparison, we now have a president who is trying to take control of the three branches of government sans the declaration of martial law.
nonoy's overwhelming obssession for power and drive to get even with his perceived political foes was justified in his genuine psychological report that was never released to the public. release of the authentic psychological report was preempted during the campaign trail by coming up with a fake one. the release of the fake psychological findings about noynoy's true mental state was masterminded by his own political party (liberal) in connivance with the bias television station so they can come up with a credible story that indeed, there is no authentic psychological record.
yesterday, we've seen a dauntless and principled neophyte legislator in the name of toby tiangco. he testified before the IC to prove to everyone that he can attest the truthfulness of his statements during his privilege speech in the lower chamber. but what is the relevance of toby tiangco's statements in this impeachment proceeding?
although the IC has decided to proceed with the impeachment, the defense wanted him to testify because they wanted to establish a convincing proof that indeed, there is a pressure directly coming from the palace (specifically noynoy), that there is a pattern of abuse coupled with a dispicable scheme to pressure our legislators to give in to the palace emperor's whim. tiangco succeeded in revealing this scheme to put pressure on legislators.
tiangco claimed that his share of PDAF was delayed after he voted against the railroaded impeachment of former ombudsman merceditas gutierrez. he added that despite confirmation from the DBM that three of the four infrastructure projects were approved, delays plagued the release of his SARO after he voted against the gutierrez impeachment and said palace proxies made it clear that lawmakers who refused to toe the line will face consequences.
According to tiangco the abad’s text message read: “On my own I can’t withhold PDAF. Talk to pnoy through the speaker for help along this line.” this is credible proof that pnoy masterminded the impeachment of chief justice corna. tiangco's testimony will prove our legislators'subservience with the executive and the role of PDAF in putting pressure among the congressmen to vote in favor of the imepachment of chief justice corona.
since noynoy and his prostituted allies did not expect that the CJ will not do a mercy,consequently, they need to face the IC and prove their sloppy allegations. tiangco's testimony added credibility to the claims that the articles of impeachment were indeed badly crafted and were ill-prepared. acconding to tiangco, rodolfo biazon and rufus rodriguez had questioned the hurried proceedings in the House despite an outright order that lawmakers are not allowed to ask questions about the impeachment complaint. tiangco claimed that belmonte said no questions will be entertained and said tupas merely presented bullet points on articles of impeachment no evidence, no documents but "only" allegations. when the legislators asked for a copies of the articles of impeachment, they were told that it is still being produced or manufactured. what a way to impeach a chief justice.
the articles of impeachment needed to be verified and understood by members of the 15th congress since they will sign this document and will attest for the facts and truthfulness of the allegations. in this case, constitutional requirement of verification was not met. what we've witness are legislators bereft of knowledge signing a constitutionally flawed impeachment complaint.
what happened in congress is a shenanigan. constitutional safeguards are requisites of the constitution so as to prevent abuse of the impeachment process. in the case of the 15th congress, they striken off two constitutional safeguards in the house rules of impeachment to comply with the emperor's will.
chop chop pen
tadtarin man ng SC ng technicalities para harangin ang IC para hanapin ang katotohanan at hustisya. Taong bayan pa rin ang maghuhusga. Guilty! at magisip-isip sana ang SC dahilan sa baka tadtarin sila kung Kangaroo Court ang ipalit sa corrupt na SC.
Shame on the SC
This only goes to prove that Corona and most of the justices of the Supreme Court cannot be trusted. Until these inept and seemingly corrupt justices are removed, the Supreme Court will always suffer from a severe credibility problem.
Thank you!
Thank you guys, akala ko bumaligtad na kayo, nagwowory na nga si master little girl GMA, akala nya inabandona na nyo kami, sabi nga nya baka kulang para pa yung $ na dinoposito nya sa $ account nyo.TY din daw sa rookie. Sabihin nyo lang daw kung kulang pah? Best, thief Corona
He he he, joke only , don't get mad - pro corona/arroyo. Just having fun! He he he
to yellow army- have more fun of this impeachment drama- kita nyo naman, umiyak pa si thief Corona! talagang pang famas!bwaaaaaaaaaah....
MGA DUWAG BAHAG ANG BUNTOT NIYO
Nasaan ang mga galing nyo at pati CJ Corona now he was in chilling effect to raise the white flag. Nakakatawa kayo! Ang gagaling nyo na mag object ng mag object at puro kayo technicalities lahat hinaharang niyo. Kung walang malaking pera sa bangko si Corona bakit takot kayo na buksan kasi may tinatago kayo at guilty ang nasasakdal kaya ngayun pa lang MAGRESIGN KA NA THIEF JUSTICE AY ESTE CHIEF JUSTICE PALA. TRO lang pala yun ebidensya niyo poor defense councils.
Section 2 of RA 1405 (this
Section 2 of RA 1405 (this Republic Act is not repealed till now) where the secrecy rule is stated is hereby reproduced, to wit:
“Section 2. All deposits of whatever nature with banks or banking institutions in the Philippines including investments in bonds issued by the Government of the Philippines, its political subdivisions and its instrumentalities, are hereby considered as of an absolutely confidential nature and may not be examined, inquired or looked into by any person, government official, bureau or office, except upon written permission of the depositor, or in cases of impeachment, or upon order of a competent court in cases of bribery or dereliction of duty of public officials, or in cases where the money deposited or invested is the subject matter of the litigation.”
Then, read Section 8 of RA 6426, to wit:
"Section 8. Secrecy of foreign currency deposits. – All foreign currency deposits authorized under this Act, as amended by PD No. 1035, as well as foreign currency deposits authorized under PD No. 1034, are hereby declared as and considered of an absolutely confidential nature and, except upon the written permission of the depositor, in no instance shall foreign currency deposits be examined, inquired or looked into by any person, government official, bureau or office whether judicial or administrative or legislative, or any other entity whether public or private; Provided, however, That said foreign currency deposits shall be exempt from attachment, garnishment, or any other order or process of any court, legislative body, government agency or any administrative body whatsoever. (As amended by PD No. 1035, and further amended by PD No. 1246, prom. Nov. 21, 1977.)"
Reading Section 8 over and over again shows nothing that repeals or revokes Section 2 of RA 1405.
THE LAW maybe harsh but it is THE LAW ..