“What can we do if the partiality has already been exhibited to the detriment of our client? When will be the proper time for us to do it?”
by Ducky Paredes
Defense lawyer Ramon Esguerra, at this early stage, already says that it’s “Do or Die” when they seek the inhibition of Senator Franklin Drilon, a fellow member of President Benigno Aquino III in the Liberal Party.
“What can we do if the partiality has already been exhibited to the detriment of our client? When will be the proper time for us to do it?”
Is this a case of the “pot calling the kettle black”? After all, isn’t that precisely PNoy’s problem with the Chief Justice and the rest of the Gloria 12?
Drilon, a lawyer, seems to have done favors for the congressmen-prosecutors and their private counsels by eliciting from the witnesses what the prosecution seemed unable to do in the direct examination of their own witnesses.
Drilon asked and Enriqueta Esguerra-Vidal, clerk of court of the Supreme Court, whether she followed what the subpoena of the impeachment court ordered her to do; she replied that, yes, she brought with her Corona’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) as directed by the impeachment court’s subpoena.
Drilon also simply asked Randy Rutaquio, Taguig City register of deeds, whether there was an “attorney in fact” for the Corona daughter in her purchase of property from her parents. It turned out to be the Chief Impeachee himself!
While this is expected of the defense, as Drilon himself says, isn’t the purpose of any trial to bring out the truth so that justice can triumph?
Under the impeachment rules, counsels cannot object to questions by senator-judges even if the queries do not necessarily follow the Rules of Court.
Drilon says: “I would expect them to do that, to avail of that remedy. But I would not heed their call for me to inhibit. I see no basis for that.”
“I don’t know what they mean about me rescuing the prosecution team,” he added. “If you read the transcript, you will know exactly what happened. All I asked was whether she (Vidal) complied with the subpoena. She was the one who admitted that she had brought the SALNs with her.”
In fact, even as the prosecution seemed like naifs unschooled in court procedure in contrast to the hoary legal veterans of the defense, so far they seem to have done well enough for themselves, so well, in fact that the defense lawyers have resolved to go all-out against the prosecution’s move to use evidence on their client’s alleged unexplained wealth to help convince senators, acting as judges, to find against their client in the impeachment court.
A memorandum objecting to the use of what Corona’s SALN reveals about his wealth will be filed this afternoon when the impeachment court resumes at the Senate.
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We have two letters: “The CJ impeachment, win or loss on either side, is the victory of the common Filipino. This is our Democracy working.
“The officials and employees of the government, including the President of the Republic, are under the decision of the Supreme Court as the final arbiters while the Supreme Court, right or wrong, is always be correct. Does this mean that they are above all of us, the Filipino people, who are their Boss?
“We must wait and see, decide without too much technicalities lawyers are playing that sometimes are intentionally made to delay the proceedings.” — Jun Balo
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Mali ka, Jun. Even our Constitution says: “Section 1. The Philippines is a republican state. Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.”
It only takes a while, and through proper processes, for us to exercise that resident power, but it is there as we used it in People Power!
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We have another letter: “In the impeachment trial of the Chief Justice (CJ), the defense panel raised an objection particularly when the prosecution lawyers were trying to prove allegations against the CJ which are not contained in the Articles of Impeachment against him. According to the defense panel, Article 2 of the impeachment complaint mainly accuses the CJ of not filing his SALN which was disproved by Supreme Court Clerk of Court Enriqueta Vidal who personally brought and surrendered the CJ’s SALN to the Impeachment Court. The defense panel claimed that destroyed the second article altogether and now it seems, it claimed, that the prosecution has proceeded into some sort of fishing expedition and a publicity gimmick against the CJ in now proving that the supposed properties he owned and owns to be ill gotten.
“Recall that Republic Act (RA) No. 1379, or the law declaring forfeiture in favor of the State any property found to have been unlawfully acquired by any public officer or employee, is an effective strategy to combat corruption and promote ethical conduct in public service in the Philippines. Hence, in order to effectively implement RA 1379, several legislative measures were installed and one of them is RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act which mandates the filing of a true detailed Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth (SALN). The SALN is a primary and effective tool to find evidence of illegal enrichment. Failure to comply therewith may be sufficient cause for removal or dismissal of a public officer or employee. Rules Implementing RA 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, requires that the SALN shall contain, among other things, an information on the real property, its improvements, acquisition costs, assessed value, and current fair market value.
“Note that on the CJ’s SALNs, only the assessed values of his assets were indicated. The acquisition cost in the contract or the deed of sale are not indicated.
“The value used in the SALN is lower than the price stated in the contracts to sell or deeds of sale is a very common practice in law and is used by most public servants. The purpose, it seems, is to circumvent RA 1379. Hence, this (mal)practice should be stopped as it defeats the purpose of the SALN.” — Atty. Emmanuel LJ. Mapili, House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal
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hvp 01.23.12
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