MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang assured the nation Saturday that the current impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato C. Corona is good for democracy and will not trigger a constitutional crisis.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte gave the assurance after the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said it is now preparing in the event of a constitutional crisis over the impeachment trial.
Retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz was quoted as saying that it is the role of the CBCP “to act as mediator and reconciliator” should a constitutional crisis arises.
“Tingin naman natin, wala namang constitutional crisis dahil nandyan na ang impeachment trial, gumugulong na ito [We don’t think there is a constitutional crisis because the impeachment trial is already ongoing],” Valte said, noting that both the prosecution and the defense panels are being given the chance to air their sides at the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court.
Valte stressed that the defense panel is not for the Supreme Court, but is only defending the Chief Justice.
“Ang punong mahistrado, hindi ho siya ang Korte Suprema [The Chief Justice is not the Supreme Court], in the same way that the Supreme Court is not Chief Justice Corona,” Valte said.
“Wala namang constitutional crisis; patuloy ang pag-usad ng ating mundo at tingin natin, magandang bagay ito para sa ating demokrasya dahil pagkatapos nito ang sigurado natin, mas magiging matatag yung ating institution [There is no constitutional crisis. The world continues to move and we believe that this is good for our democracy because after this impeachment trial, we can be assured of a stronger institution],” she added.
Valte, meanwhile, said Malacañang is confident that more pieces of evidence will be presented as the impeachment trial progresses.
“As the President said, more pieces of evidence will be coming out and bantayan nating lahat kung ano yung mga ebidensyang ito na lalabas [we should be mindful of the pieces of evidence that will be revealed] and should be watched,” she said.
As this developed, the 11-man House prosecution panel is calling for “less technical” impeachment proceedings, with one of the prosecutors accusing Corona’s lawyers of delaying the trial by their alleged “unwarranted” use of the Rules of Court.
Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, one of the prosecution spokesmen, said Corona’s camp should refrain from using the Rules of Court, citing that the nature of the impeachment is “not criminal or penal in nature.”
“We do feel the process could be facilitated by less technical proceedings and greater liberality given that the nature of impeachment is that of removal proceedings. It is not criminal or penal in nature, and there is no deprivation of life, liberty, or property by any means,” he said.
“You are just removing undesirable public officials who cannot be removed by any other means. It should be treated like a high-level dismissal or firing case. There is no vested right to public office after all,” he explained.
But Dean Tranquil Salvador, one of Corona’s defense lawyers, said it is the role of defense lawyers to stand up and question issues that need to be brought out to protect their clients.
Salvador said the defense panel has to ensure that the case is properly prosecuted and this is part of due process enshrined in the Bill of Rights “because every accused is protected by the Bill of Rights.’’
He maintained that delays are the prosecution’s and defense’s armory of explaining their points of contention.
On allegations that the defense panel is too technical, Salvador said technicalities is the essence of due process, making sure that the evidence presented is properly authenticated and defended.
Another House prosecution spokesman, Marikina Rep. Romero Federico “Miro” Quimbo, said the defense lawyers are raising all technicalities to conceal the truth to the public.
“When I was practicing law, we were always taught that when you want to hide something, you resort to using technicalities to prevent its disclosure. They did that when they tried to stop the statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN) of Corona from getting disclosed,” he said.
Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares, one of the prosecutors, proposed that the prosecution and defense panels should be allowed to present its case with “minimum interruptions” and let the senators and the people decide,” which he said “is the better rule” that should be followed in the proceedings.
Disturbing
Former Senate Majority Leader Francisco Tatad said the questioning by senator-judges of witnesses during the impeachment trial is “disturbing.”
In the US, members of the Senate may ask any of the defense or prosecution panels by writing their questions and sending them to the Senate President who is the presiding officer who will raise the question to the concerned party, he said.
Questions by senators should only be clarificatory but this is not so in the current Philippine impeachment trial, he pointed out.
He expressed fears that the current Corona-hate campaign by Malacañang might cause the failure of the impeachment process which might result “in a failed state, and they are succeeding.”
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