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For the defense team, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima failed to prove that Chief Justice Renato Corona acted in favor of former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo when the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order against government’s hold departure order.
The defense panel said in a press briefing after Day 22 of the impeachment trial that De Lima merely narrated the events that transpired in the issuance of TRO and was not able to establish Corona’s alleged partiality.
“Ang mga nasabi ni De Lima ngayon nasabi na niya before. Wala talagang matibay na ebidensiya na si chief justice ay may ginawang mali,” defense lawyer Rico Quicho said Wednesday.
The Corona camp stressed that Corona is being singled out in the alleged erroneous ruling to issue the TRO when it was decided by a collegial body.
Defense spokesperson Atty. Karen Jimeno added that the justice secretary’s testimonies were only based on hearsay since she was not present during the SC’s discussion of the TRO.
“Ang sagot ni De Lima ay sarili lamang niyang opinyon. Hindi mo basta-basta masasabi na may conspiracy,” Jimeno said.
De Lima is the prosecution’s first witness for Article VII of the impeachment complaint which accuses Corona of “betrayal of public trust through his partiality in granting a temporary restraining order in favor of former president and her husband Jose Miguel in order for them to escape prosecution.”
When asked by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile if the chief justice acted alone in trying to enforce the TRO, De Lima replied, “The direct answer to that is no.”
The justice secretary, however, noted that there are certain disclosures in the dissenting opinion of Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno worth looking into.
She said that based on Sereno’s dissenting opinion, Corona sent handwritten corrections to the original draft of the TRO resolution with instructions that his version to be promulgated.
Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano likewise asked the prosecution to clarify the issue that the TRO was from not from Corona alone.
“It is obvious that the chief justice yields tremendous influence over the other members of the SC. Certain actions of Corona has gone beyond the line from honest mistake to an impeachable offense amounting to betrayal of public trust,” argued prosecutor Northern Samar Rep. Raul Daza.
However, Cayetano stressed that the prosecution needs to prove Corona's ties to Arroyo that led to his supposed alleged.
The prosecution, however, manifested that they will no longer present evidence on Article III where Corona was accused of having "excessive entanglement" with the former president.
Senator-judges admonished impeachment complainant and civil society group leader Harvey Keh for trying to "influence" the impeachment court.
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