Defense: Palace offered P100-M per senator to skirt TRO

Posted at 02/12/2012 7:25 PM | Updated as of 02/13/2012 7:00 AM

Palace says claims are 'unsubstantiated,' a 'desperate gimmick'

MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) - The defense on Sunday alleged that Malacanang offered P100 million for senators to skirt around the Supreme Court-issued temporary restraining order on the subpoena issued on Chief Justice Renato Corona’s alleged dollar accounts.
 
Citing a “very reliable” source, defense lawyer Dennis Manalo said Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. has been contacting senator-judges not to honor the halt order.
 
Another lawyer, Jose “Judd” Roy III, alleged the money will be sourced from government savings to be used for “soft projects.” The funds will supposedly be released this week.
 
In a prepared statement read by Manalo, the defense said: “Yesterday, we received very reliable information that Executive Secretary [Ochoa], acting in behalf of President Aquino, was personally contacting and phoning senator-judges to pursuade or pressure them to defy TRO issued by SC in favor of PSBank.”
 
He said they condemn in the strongest terms the actions of President Benigno Aquino III to “undermine the constitutional process that he himself initiated.”
 
He added that Corona “in good faith” participated in the process, but now “it’s apparent that the President is bent on convicting CJ Corona at all cost.”
 
Attack on the judiciary, economy
 
The defense did not reveal their source, noting only that he is very reliable. 
 
But they stressed they would not risk their reputations as lawyers by coming out on a Sunday to issue a statement on news that has no bearing.
 
They also called on lawyers “to be more vigilant and stand up for the independence of the judiciary and the integrity of our constitutional processes.” 
 
What is happening now is an attack on the entire judiciary, the defense added.
 
They also called on the public to “guard against efforts to undermine the constitution and rule of law…We must…secure the independence of the judiciary. Otherwise, the oppressed would find no refuge from abuses and rights cannot triumph over injustice.”
 
Defense lawyer Ramon Esguerra also added that if the senator-judges decide on Monday not to respect the TRO, “the backlash will not only be on the Chief Justice, but on the banking industry and the entire economy.”
 
The defense did not say what it will do with the information it received. They said, however, that what Aquino did, if true, is already "a culpable violation of the Constitution.”
 
Palace says defense allegation a ‘squid tactic’

Executive Secretary Ochoa called the accusations of the defense as “unsubstantiated” and a “desperate gimmick.”

In a statement issued to the media, Ochoa said: “As a member of the Bar, I respect the right of the lawyers of the Chief Justice to protect the interests of their client, within the bounds of the law. However, citing rumors to prove baseless accusations to support their cause goes against the principles of decent and ethical lawyering.”

He said: “It is a desperate gimmick that does not belong in the proceedings of any court of law, especially an impeachment trial.”

He said the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, is capable of making decisions to provide Corona a fair trial.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda urged Corona's camp to “stop running and stop hiding” and inflicting on the public “idle talk.”

“Their conspiracy theories concerning the Executive Secretary [Ochoa] is a diversionary tactic to distract attention from the evidence coming to light in the impeachment trial," he said.

He said the defense chooses to use “squid tactics” in order to deviate from the real issues.

“The Senate has been conducting the impeachment trial in full light of day; the prosecution and defense have been given every opportunity to have themselves heard,” he said. “We can only surmise that the defense has run out of ways to conceal the culpability of its client, and has engineered this move as a last-ditch effort to confuse the proceedings and prevent a resolution.”

“The only danger in the disclosure of the Chief Justice’s assets is the Chief Justice’s defense: the integrity of the banking system, our system of laws, the cause of justice and good governance are not endangered by the proceedings of the impeachment court,” he added.

 
Abad denies P100M, INC probe

In a statement, Budget Secretary Butch Abad said "the P100M is a complete  fabrication concocted by the desperate Corona defense lawyers."

"It's an insult to the Senators and to the Senate as an institution. It's another lie in a web of lies being woven by the Corona camp to discredit the impeachment process," he said.

Abad noted that defense lawyers had also accused President Aquino of directing Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares to investigate the books of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC), which Abad also denied.

"Sec. Abad was [also] reported to have sought an audience with the INC hierarchy on orders of Aquino. Not true again. Such baseless allegations are irresponsible and can only erode the credibility of the defense lawyers. Their energies and time are better spent preparing for tomorrow's continuing hearings on the hidden but now exposed dollar and peso accounts of Corona in PSBank and BPI, which have been admitted as true not just by the bank officers and even by Corona himself," Abad said.

 
Pull-out imminent?
 
The senator-judges will hold a caucus on Monday morning to discuss whether or not to follow the halt order issued by the Supreme Court last Thursday.
 
The High Court, in a vote of 8-5, issued on Thursday a TRO on the subpoena issued by the impeachment court on the alleged dollar accounts of Corona in PSBank.
 
Esguerra added: “We respect the trial…but we came in already scathed and wounded…Sugatan na ang Chief Justice, lopsided na ang sitwasyon, di kami makapag-motion for reconsideration, we can’t object to the questions of the senators.”
 
He said, however, that they still hope that “the senator-judges will see reason and implement the Constitution.”
 
Asked if they will pull out from the trial if the Senate insists on the subpoena, defense lawyer Paolo Quicho only said: “Kami pong mga abogado ay handing lumaban, manindigan…Sama-sama po namin itong haharapin. Marangal naming haharapin ang persecution na ito.”
 
In the meantime, the defense is asking stakeholders to wait for their turn in ducking the accusations against Corona. 
 
Malacanang has also called on Corona to just open his bank accounts to end the speculation.
 
But Manalo said: “There is a process. Sila dapat muna ang magpatunay. Bakit kailangan ng shortcut?” -- with a report from Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News
 

 


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114 comments

MADATUNG TALAGA ITONG BAKLA NA NAKAUPO SA PALASYO..

MATINDI TALAGA ITONG SI BAKLETANG ABNOY PNOY..HINDI LANG PALA ITO MADATONG SA MGA MACHO...MADATONG RIN PALA ITO SA MGA SENATOR JUDGES...BWA HAHAHAHA..

PATI SI GRACE LEE, GINAMIT PA NIYA AT GINAWANG SMALL LADY SA PROSECUTION.

HAHAHA...ITO NAMAN SI GRACE LEE NAGPAGAMIT KAY BAKLETANG ABNOY PNOY PARA GAWING PANAKIP BUTAS SA KABAKLAAN NITO.

MABUHAY SI CHIEF JUSTICE CORONA..THE MODERN PHILIPPINE HERO AND THE DEFENDER OF BILL OF RIGHTS.

IBAGSAK SI BAKLETANG ABNOY PNOY AT IBIGAY NA SA MGA PARU PARO....IBAGSAK ANG NAAABNOY NG GOVERNMENT NI BAKLETANG ABNOY PNOY.


MADATUNG TALAGA ITONG BAKLA NA NAKAUPO SA PALASYO..

MATINDI TALAGA ITONG SI BAKLETANG ABNOY PNOY..HINDI LANG PALA ITO MADATONG SA MGA MACHO...MADATONG RIN PALA ITO SA MGA SENATOR JUDGES...BWA HAHAHAHA..

PATI SI GRACE LEE, GINAMIT PA NIYA AT GINAWANG SMALL LADY SA PROSECUTION.

HAHAHA...ITO NAMAN SI GRACE LEE NAGPAGAMIT KAY BAKLETANG ABNOY PNOY PARA GAWING PANAKIP BUTAS SA KABAKLAAN NITO.

MABUHAY SI CHIEF JUSTICE CORONA..THE MODERN PHILIPPINE HERO AND THE DEFENDER OF BILL OF RIGHTS.

IBAGSAK SI BAKLETANG ABNOY PNOY AT IBIGAY NA SA MGA PARU PARO....IBAGSAK ANG NAAABNOY NG GOVERNMENT NI BAKLETANG ABNOY PNOY.


MADATUNG TALAGA ITONG BAKLA NA NAKAUPO SA PALASYO..

MATINDI TALAGA ITONG SI BAKLETANG ABNOY PNOY..HINDI LANG PALA ITO MADATONG SA MGA MACHO...MADATONG RIN PALA ITO SA MGA SENATOR JUDGES...BWA HAHAHAHA..

PATI SI GRACE LEE, GINAMIT PA NIYA AT GINAWANG SMALL LADY SA PROSECUTION.

HAHAHA...ITO NAMAN SI GRACE LEE NAGPAGAMIT KAY BAKLETANG ABNOY PNOY PARA GAWING PANAKIP BUTAS SA KABAKLAAN NITO.

MABUHAY SI CHIEF JUSTICE CORONA..THE MODERN PHILIPPINE HERO AND THE DEFENDER OF BILL OF RIGHTS.

IBAGSAK SI BAKLETANG ABNOY PNOY AT IBIGAY NA SA MGA PARU PARO....IBAGSAK ANG NAAABNOY NG GOVERNMENT NI BAKLETANG ABNOY PNOY.


mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!!

mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!mabuhay si PRESIDENT PNOY!!! THE MODERN HEROES OF THE PHILIPPINES!!

MARAMING SALAMAT SAYO!!HWG MONG PANSININ ANG MGA INGGITIRO...WAHHAHAAH


Cock and bull story

Cock and bull story - double whammy for the prosecution (is it real?)

instrumental for the issuance of the subpoena is the bank document submitted by the prosecution. the fake bank document is the sole reason why the senate impeachment court decided to issue a subpoena to the concerned banks. but what is the connection between the aforesaid fake bank document to the fabricated story of umali regarding her mystic little lady? isn't it intriguing?

here is the catch, it is "only" tupas and umali who signed the request for the impeachment court to issue a subpoena to the banks using the fake bank document. PS bank branch manager tiongson refused to deny or confirm that tupas is a valued depositor in their branch (PS bank katipunan). it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the only "way" to produce similar but false copy of the bank document of the CJ, is to have someone from the bank itself leak the document. it is ironic that tiongson refuses to confirm if tupas is a valued depositor in PS bank katipunan. the possibility of connivance is not a far fetch idea. tupas may have requested to leak the bank document of corona through tiongson. now, the prosecution needed to come up with a story to cover the crime. here comes umali to the rescue. as a result, umali came up with an impossible story about a little lady who he claims handed him the fake documents. this is ofcourse to cover the crime perpetrated by tupas. however, the problem is, umali is not at all good at lying. since he claim that the little lady handed him the document around 2:30 pm on his way out of the senate, he failed to realize that people from the senate can ask for a review of the CCTV. since the senate sergeant of arms did not see the little lady's apparition in the CCTV, it became obvious that umali is lying to his teeth.

but the worse thing about it is that, these prosecutors who are also lawyers, clearly violated Republic Act 1405 for using a document from an anonymous source. how can you exact accountability or determine the authenticity of such document if it came from an anonymous source? sen-judge miriam is so infuriated about this that caused her blood pressure to shoot up. clearly, what the prosecution did especially umali and tupas is a ground for disbarment.

second, the prosecution never took the time to determine the authenticity of such document. the law dictates that the foreign currency deposits (dollar account) cannot be disclosed unless with the consent of the depositor. given this law, the prosecutors should have refuse to present the document or even use it. since the document was produced without the consent of the depositor, the document is either fake or illegally acquired. if the document is illegally acquired, then it is a violation of the law specifically Republic Act 1405. these prosecutors / lawyers should know that.

the senate allowed the fake document to be used for the issuance of the subpoena without trying to verify or confirm the authenticity of such document. JPE said the impeachment court assumed that the document is authentic and was submitted in good faith by the prosecution. that for me is a lame excuse.

damage has been done to the accuse even without the opening of the dollar account. why did the senate allowed the issue of bank account of corona to be discuss when in fact the prosecution failed to prove the materiality and relevancy of the issue to the impeachment case that they filed against the CJ. apparently, the senate made a ruling that prohibits both the defense and prosecution to tackle par. 2.4 of article 2 since the articles of impeachment did not allege corona of amassing ill-gotten wealth. if the impeachment court is trying corona for an accusation (ill-gotten wealth) that he was never accused, then the senate impeachment court is in violation of their own ruling. thus, making the impeachment court a kangaroo court and a court open for fishing expedition!


Corona Is Only Gloria's Hope

As instructed by his benefactor, the obedient Corona will never resign. He will do everything to be acquitted in the impeachment trial. Now that he is losing, he is meddling in the impeachment trial by seeking all means to stop the trial using his influence at the Supreme Court.

If Corona remains at the Supreme Court, it would be easy for Gloria to have any of her convictions reversed.


TRUTH

paragraph 2.1 and 2.2 of art. 2 alleges the non-disclosure of CJ's SALN.
TRUTH: drilon manged to extract the SALN of CJ. because of this, the court confirmed that corona regularly files his SALN. thus, compelling the prosecutors to abandon the accusation of non-declaration of SALN.

paragraph 2.3 of art. 2: alleges that the CJ failed to declare some of his properties accurately in his SALN and that he committed perjury.
TRUTH: the law allows corrections in CJ's SALN. that being the case, no law has been violated not even perjury is applicable. additionally, perjury is not even an impeachable offense.

paragraph 2.4 of article 2: alleges that corona amassed ill-gotten wealth.
TRUTH: the senate itself made a ruling that par. 2.4 of art 2 will no longer be tackled since article 2 does not allege corona of amassing ill-gotten wealth. the prosecution is prohibited by the senate impeachment court to tackle par. 2.4 of art 2. the prosecution needed to cure art 2 or toss the impeachment complaint back to prostituted congress before they can touch the issue of ill-gotten wealth.

included in the articles of impeachment, CJ's failure to account on JDF.
TRUTH: COA cleared corona involving this accusation (2010 JDF) prior to the commencement of the trial.

the prosecution accused corona of having 45 properties.
TRUTH: during the impeachment trial, it was proven that the list of 45 properties is bloated.

Prosecution used bank documents to force the issuance of subpoena
TRUTH: the documents used by the prosecution were confirmed to be fake as stated by PS bank president gracia and branch manager tiongson. evidently, the documents used by the prosecution were acquired illegally.

umali said the documents used to subpoena corona's account were handed by a "little lady."
TRUTH: upon review of the CCTV, the little lady is missing. could it be an apparition?


BINABABOY NINYO ANG PILIPINAS-HACIENDA LUISITA MASSACRE

CHINA ADMINISTRATION-COMMUNIST RULE LIKE NOYNOY AQUINO.Hindi lahat ng kaharap mo kakampi mo,hindi lahat ng gusto mo ay makukuha mo,hindi lahat ng trabahador mo ay alipin mo.Ang galing talaga ninyong manloko ng tao.IBALIK NA NINYO ANG HACIENDA LUISITA SA PILIPINO NA MAGSASAKA.HINDI NAMAN SA INYO IYAN NOONG UNA PA.NABILI NINYO IYAN SA KASTILA AT HINDI PILIPINAS AT MAY KASUNDUAN PA NA IPAMAMAHAGI SA MAGSASAKA.DAHIL ALAM NG MGA KASTILA NA WALA SILANG KARAPATAN NA MAGBENTA NANG LUPA NA HINDI NAMAN KANILA.HUWAG NINYONG HINTAYIN NA KUHANIN NANG TAONG BAYAN IYAN SA DAHAS.BAKA PATI NA MGA ARI-ARIAN,BUSINESS,HOSPITAL,SCHOOL NA ANG PUHUNAN AY NAGMULA SA HACIENDA LUISITA AY KUHANIN DIN NG TAONG BAYAN.KARAMIHAN NGAYON NA NASA POSISYON SA GABINETE AY CHINESE NA NAGPALIT LANG NG PANGALAN PARA MAGING PINOY.


A Vicious Pattern

Corona shedding tears is like Arroyo saying sorry on TV...... Corona accuses Malacañang of bribing the Senator-Judges is like Abalos accusing Judge Mupas of extortion.


Ano pa kaya

Ano pa kayang mga “dirty moves” ang gagawin ng depensa at kampo ni Corona upang matigil ang impeachment trial at ilihis ang attention ng taong bayan? Abangan…
Ang taong desperado lahat ng paraan ay gagawin maging ito’y makakasira at makakasakit ng kapwa. Tayong lahat ay magmatyag at maghanda.