Rejection of PAL officer's testimony 'unfortunate'

Thursday, February 23, 2012

THE Senate rejection of the Philippine Airlines (PAL) executive's testimony at the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona is unfortunate, Malacañang said Wednesday.

"It's unfortunate that the Senate President (Juan Ponce Enrile) has decided to disallow the reception for evidence with respect to Article 3," Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a news briefing.

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He said that the public could have been waiting for the testimony of Enrique Javier, PAL vice president for sales, on the alleged special privileges that Corona and his wife, Cristina, had been enjoying from PAL.

The prosecution team accused Corona of enjoying freebies at the time that the high court came out with a decision reversing its earlier ruling on the case of the PAL Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines favoring the PAL management.

But despite Enrile's unfortunate decision, Lacierda believed that there was a strong basis for Corona's impeachment based on the Article 2 of the case, particularly the discrepancy on the chief magistrate's statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN), and his bank deposits.

"As they say, the fight goes on and so far we believe that the evidence as culled from Article 2 with respect to the bank accounts, with respect to the properties of the Chief Justice would be a strong basis for the senators to rule on the impeachment," he said. (SDR/Sunnex)