Senate stands by decision to subpoena CJ bank records

Posted at 02/08/2012 2:49 PM | Updated as of 02/08/2012 7:11 PM

MANILA, Philippines (2nd UPDATE) - The Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, junked Wednesday a motion for reconsideration on the impeachment body's decision to subpoena bank records of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

During the trial, Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said he “moved to adopt the MR made by Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago in view of the contrary view on the ruling of the impeachment court expressed by the senator-judge through an MR, a vote to consider the motion is necessary.”

Sotto, reading a resolution, said however that after deliberation "the majority resolved not to consider the motion for reconsideration.”

The Senate later went into caucus to discuss the repercussions and effects of the petition of the defense asking the Supreme Court to stop the impeachment trial.

After an hour, Sotto announced the majority has denied the motion of the defense to defer action pending a petition before the SC. The majority also moved to receive evidence in connection with the FASAP case vis-a-vis Corona's role, but reminding the prosecution not to touch on the merits.

This morning, the defense went to the SC to stop the proceedings at the Senate.

Based on the 39-page urgent petition for certiorari, the defense said they have been “forced into litigation with standards so far below the norm in regular proceedings.”

This was filed before the Senate could render a judgment on the motion for reconsideration filed by Santiago on the subpoenas issued on the bank records of Chief Justice Corona.

The issuance of the subpoenas is one of those cited in the petition of the defense before the high court.

The Philippine Savings Bank also asked for a halt order from the SC against the subpoenas.

Class on its own

At the start of the trial, senator-judge Teofisto Guingona III took the floor and insisted on the right of the Senate to hear an impeachment complaint.

“The impeachment is the people’s way of making officials accountable…[The Constitution] has reposed this power upon the Senate,” he said.

He said the case is a class of its own and “the SC can’t and should not impose its will.” He said the SC is co-equal to the Senate only if the latter is doing its legislative function. “At this point, we’re not legislating but doing a specific judicial function.”

He said the Senate, therefore, has the sole power to try and decide such cases.

He asked the SC to help the Senate “in searching for the truth.”


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4 comments

apparatchiks

Let me give you guys a recall of the violations that pnoy and his prostitutes have committed against our system of democracy. pnoy through his justice secretary defied the TRO issued by the supreme court even without legal or constitutional basis. second, pnoy used the COMELEC to conspire with DOJ to make a joint investigation on electoral sabotage against the former president. counsel of the defendant questioned this in the supreme court but despite of the pending decision of the honorable court in regard to the aforesaid issue, the COMELEC railroaded the investigation. but the worse thing that happened was, sixto brillantes (former counsel of FPJ) participated in the voting procedure involving the filing of electoral sabotage case even if the COMELEC rule itself prohibits such act.

but pnoy was never contented in violating and circumventing rules, procedure, and laws to get back at his perceived political foes. next target was merci. with the help of mammoth administration propaganda against the sitting ombudsman, pnoy and his allies worked to defame her name in front of the public using yellow media. the ombudsman is guilty in the bar of public opinion even without the trial. as a result, she resigned before the senate convene as an impeachment court. but the catch here is that, the law itself prohibits the resignation of a public official pending an investigation against him or her. pnoy violated this law on anti graft and corrupt practices by signing merci's resignation. enough reason to impeach him.

the shame campaign did not relent. after the SC in a "unanimous" decision ruled to favor the distribution of hacienda luisita and rejecting STO (a predatory tactic of aquino-cojuangco clan to get hold of luisita), pnoy came out in the public enraged. the chief executive berated the chief justice on several occasions including the forum held by no less than SC. this ill-manned president used the opportunity to lambast corona in the forum organized by the institution the latter represent.

after the hacienda ruling, the prostituted allies of pnoy and he, met in a restaurant in qc to plot the ouster of CJ. the house of representative railroaded the filing of the impeachment. the chief justice was impeached in the prostituted house even if the articles of impeachment did not met the constitutional requirement of verification. those who refuse to sign the articles of impeachment were not spared. mandanas was removed from the powerful committee that he used to handle even if he is member of the ruling majority. tiangco (majority) had his PDAF witheld when he refuse to sign merci's impeachment. for the second time he and his colleagues were compelled to sign a constitutionally flawed impeachment complaint this time involving the CJ of SC.

the house rules on impeachment were revised during merci's time removing the two essential constitutional safeguards or requirements such as "personal knowledge". this move is all intended to easily file an impeachment complaint that this administration could use against their perceived political enemies. suddenly, the filing of an impeachment can be done instantaneously use to coerce and plant fear among those who refuse the will of the balding man in the pasig river.

back to the senate, during the trial it was proven that the badly written impeachment complaint needed to be toss back to the prostituted house of representatives for the wordings were badly written. the law itself dictates that accusations must be based on facts, not on opinion or inferences and must be exact. the articles of impeachment does not even allege corona of amassing ill-gotten wealth but only alleges corona for non-disclosure of SALN. during the inquiry of sen-judge drilon, it was proven that the clerk of court had his (corona's) SALN. it was also that day that the impeachment court proved that corona regularly files his SALN forcing the prosecution to abandon such accusation. a clear victory for the defense.

the court in exercise of liberality on many occasions have ruled in favor of the prosecution. the reason being is because the senate sitting as an impeachment court wanted to hasten the proceeding.

prosecution using dirty tactics presented before the media list of properties allegedly owned by corona. however, lately during the hearing, it was proven that the list was in fact inaccurate and bloated to make it appear as if corona amassed so many properties. the prosecution vehemently denied that the prosecution got anything to do with the distribution of such evidence in the media. however, in one occasion, sen-judge estrada managed to get a clear admission from tupas jr. that it was he who distributed the unsworn, unverified and unvalidated documents in the media.

the prosecution during the trial wanted to open certain bank accounts of corona in BPI and in PS bank (including peso and dollar account). the senate ruled on having the the president of PS bank to testify in the impeachment court inspite of the fact that there is a pending appeal in SC questioning the legality of disclosing corona's dollar accounts. the bank secrecy law is clear, no one can divulge information involving a dollar account as it is treated with confidentiality. the only time that this can be opened is when the depositor allows it. what the majority of our sen-judge want is to open this even if it is a clear violation of law. tackling the issue of corona's bank account is geared towards discussing the issue on paragraph 2.4 of article 2. the senate as an impeachment court already ruled not to tackle this portion of the impeachment complaint. if they will proceed, they are in great danger of violating their own ruling and possibly violating the constitutional right of the defendant.

instrumental to the issuance of the subpoena to the banks was the illegally acquired bank documents handed by the "little lady" to the prosecution. however, one of the prosecutors in a slip of the tongue referred to the lady as "he." it could be a manifestation that the prosecution is trying to cover the real identity of the one who handed those illegally acquired documents. even the possession of this illegally acquired documents warrants an investigation. i wonder why the senate did not investigate the prosecution team regarding this issue? worse, they (senate) even use this illegally acquired documents as basis to issue a subpoena.

this impeachment court is the only court that does not accept MRs. the essence of the right to file an MR supports the issue on the right of the concerned party to be heard. if this impeachment court under their rules does not accept MRs, then it deserves to be conducting their hearings in planet mars.


hahah retreat na?? why?

hahah retreat na?? why? afraid to face the reality kinabahan yata..heheh..anyways thnks Senate u'r marking ur words hopefully..


DEFENSE LAWYER - RETREAT NA FLAG NINYO???

DEFENSE LAYWER: WHAT COULD YOU POSSIBLY BEEN THINKING????
IN YOUR PETITION NOT ONLY YOU TRY TO SAY OR IMPLY THAT THE SENATE IMPEACHMENT COURT IS NOT A VALID COURT AND COULD NOT CONVICT PUBLIC OFFICIALS SUCH AS THE CHIEF JUSTICE. YOU ARE INSULTING THE CAPABILITY OF THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH SPECIALLY THE SENATE. YOU THINK IT IS ONLY THE SUPREME COURT WHO HAS THE POWER TO CONVICT AND RUN A COURT PROCEEDINGS..

HA! AND NOT ONLY THAT YOU WANT THE 2 JUSTICES TO INHIBIT AND BEING EXCLUDED TOO.. WOW YOU WANT IT ALL...DO YOU THINK YOUR CHIEF JUSTICE IS UNTOUCHABLE? AND GUESS WHAT? YOU DON'T GET NOR HE GETS WHAT HE WANTS. HE HAS TO FACE THE MUSIC NOW... OR ELSE, PEOPLE WILL FORCE YOUR THIEF JUSTICE TO GET OUT OF OFFICE IF SENATE CAN'T. AND THESE SENATORS WON'T BE SITTING IN THE OFFICE IN THE NEXT ELECTION. PEOPLE ARE WATCHING AND ARE SO ANXIOUS TO KNOW OF THE OUTCOME OF THIS IMPEACHMENT TRIAL.

I WAS WATCHING THE VIDEO AND LISTENING TO TED AND ATTY. AVENA'S DISCUSSION ABOUT THE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL. I GOT EDUCATED ABOUT HOW OUR CONSTITUTION AND HOW THE RULES OF COURT ARE BEING APPLIED.

WOW! I WOULD LIKE TO ENCOURAGE YOU ALL TO WATCH THIS:

WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE 13TH DAY OF IMPEACHMENT TRIAL?
HERE’S THE URL/LINK:
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/video/-depth/02/08/12/what-happened-during-da...


foreign currency bank accounts

who was the person who said foreign bank accounts cant be disclosed without the account holders written permission. Also what were his motifs in making that law. Its very simple, those at the top want to be able to hide their stolen wealth from the pilipino people. They not only laugh at all of us when they steal it they then make it almost impossible to be caught when they bank it.Now surely this impeachment is about coronas ill gotten wealth & correct me if im wrong but to know the ammount of money is in his bank accounts could prove his guilt beyond any doubt at all, or will he then say im looking after it for one of the arroyos. All of them from the top have been raping the philippines with impunity & it must be stopped for the improved lives of the ordinary pinoy. Also in his saln im sure they have to say their net worth so if you cant check their bank accounts how can any official verify his saln.