Senate leader: Impeachment court has been very flexible

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

MANILA (2nd Update, 2:05 p.m.) -- The impeachment court has been liberal in the trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona but there have to be limits, said Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III on Wednesday.

Sotto’s statement came after the spokesmen for the House prosecution team said Tuesday afternoon that the court had been too strict in refusing to have a Philippine Airlines (PAL) executive testify on perks that Corona allegedly received while the airline had a case pending with the Supreme Court.

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"We've bent backward so many times. We've been very flexible, maybe that's why that was abused. When you're flexible, you're pushed to the limit. That's how the Senate President felt," he told reporters Tuesday.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile ruled Tuesday to disallow testimony from Enrique Javier, PAL vice president for sales, saying bribery was not alleged in the impeachment complaint against Corona.

"You're not very careful with your allegations, you've wanted to expand it several times," he told the prosecution, adding the complaint has to be amended to include bribery.

"This is not an allegation of bribery. It is just going to allege that the Chief Justice is a recipient of a PAL platinum card," Marikina Representative Romero Quimbo, prosecution spokesman, told reporters in a press conference after the trial.

The prosecution said perks from the platinum card, which supposedly include free trips, would explain "flip-flopping" on the Flight Attendants' and Stewards' Association of the Philippines (Fasap) vs PAL.

Sotto noted that "not a single member of the court stood up to go against the ruling or even to question the ruling of the Senate President."

He also said the court has not "suddenly" become stricter. "We aren't being very strict, (and) not all of a sudden."

He pointed paragraph 2.4 of Article II of the impeachment complaint, which accuses Corona of having ill-gotten wealth kept in secret bank accounts. The Senate ruled against allowing evidence on that, saying that allegation was not a statement of ultimate fact.

"This Court believes that allegation in Paragraph 2.4 of Article II does not sufficiently inform the respondent Chief Justice of the nature of the accusation against him. Is he charged with accumulating ill-gotten wealth? Or is he merely suspected of accumulating ill-gotten wealth?" the court's resolution in January read.

"In the past, when they tried to include (an improper charge), we did not accept it. We did not accept (paragraph) 2.4," he said.

Sotto said instead of criticizing the court, the prosecution should submit a resolution "on what they want to happen."

"Do they want us to disregard the rules? They should tell us, and we will see. We will talk about that in the caucus. We will talk about whether we will accept improper (charges), or those not covered by the Rules and (that are) lies," he said in Filipino.

The prosecution announced Wednesday that it will file a motion to reconsider.

"We are hoping that after the senators have read it, one of them will stand up on the floor and tackle the issue and eventually ask for a reconsideration and put the matter to a vote," Cibac party-list Sherwin Tugna, a prosecutor, said Wednesday. (Jonathan de Santos/Sunnex)