SEN. FRANCIS ESCUDERO:

EXPLANATION OF 'GUILTY' VOTE

29-May-12, 8:53 PM | by Sen. Francis Escudero

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InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

It is written… Do not judge lest you be judged, for the measure you measure with will be measured back to you. (Matthew 7:1-2)

While I do not approve of the manner and way which the House of Representatives initiated, proceeded and handled this impeachment, when they filed the complaint for impeachment before the Senate, the House, in the exercise of its wisdom, determined that non-declaration in one's SALN is an impeachable offense.

Ibig sabihin nito, mula ngayon, pwedeng nang tanggalin sa pwesto ang punong mahistrado pati na rin ang pangulo at ikalawang pangulo at iba pang impeachable officers kapag meron silang di dineklara sa kanilang SALN.

Matapos aminin ni Chief Justice Corona na mayroon siyang $2.4M at P80M na hindi niya dineklara sa kanyang SALN, naging simple na lamang po ang kailangan naming pagpasyahan… Ito po ay: HINDI NGA BA ITO KELANGAN IDEKLARA DAHIL SA R.A. 6426 o FCDU LAW?

Kung sasang ayon kami sa posisyong ito ni Chief Justice Corona, dapat namin siyang ipawalang sala at kung hindi naman, ay dapat mag-gawad kami ng hatol laban sa
kanya.

Ikinalulungkot ko na di ko po masasang-ayunan ang posisyong ito ni Chief Justice Corona.

Para sa akin, maliwanag ang mga batas natin at di ito nagbabanggaan.

Ang pinagbabawalan ng FCDU law na mag-release ng impormasyon ukol sa dollar deposits ay ANG MGA BANKO AT DI ANG DEPOSITOR.

Samantala, ang KONSTITUSYON at R.A. 6713, pinag-uutos na ideklara ng lahat ng opisyal ng pamahalaan ang LAHAT NG KANILANG YAMAN AT PAGKAKAUTANG.

Kung ayaw mo ito ideklara, eh di huwag kang tumakbo para sa, o tumanggap ng anumang, pwesto sa pamahalaan. Subalit kung ikaw ay nasa pamahalaan, kelangan mo itong ideklara.

Dahil dito, mabigat man sa aking kalooban, kailangan kong mag-gawad ng hatol laban
kay Chief Justice Corona.

Maging ganoon pa man, nais ko pong batiin muli si Chief Justice Corona dahil, sa kasaysayan ng bansa, siya ang kauna-unahang opisyal ng pamahalaan na nag-execute ng waiver para buksan ang anumang deposito nya sa banko.

Sana siya at ang kasong ito ang magsilbing hudyat ng isang bagong simula sa ating bansa.

Isang bagong simula kung saan di na pwede ang dating gawi! Panahon na para itaas natin ang pamantayan ng mga naninilbihan sa pamahalaan!

At dapat pantay nating ipatupad ito di lamang sa kanya kundi sa ating lahat!

Kahapon, i-sinumite ko sa Senado, pabor sa Ombudsman ang aking waiver upang ilakip sa aking SALN at hinihimok at hinahamon ko ang mga kasamahan ko sa Senado at sa Kongreso na gawin din ito at ipasa natin, sa lalong madaling panahon, ang ini-akda kong Senate Bill 107 na naglalayon na i-require ito sa lahat ng naninilbihan sa pamahalaan.

Tulad ng sinabi ko sa aking pambungad na salita, ano man ang panukat na ginamit natin sa pag-husga, siya ring panukat na dapat nating gamitin sa ating mga sarili.

Ika nga ni Cong. Farinas, kung di natin pinapalusot si Chief Justice Corona, wag din tayong magpa lusot!

Ito'y hinihiling ko para magkaroon ng saysay, kahulugan at positibong kinahinatnan ang
kalbaryong dinaanan ni Chief Justice Corona, ng kanyang pamilya at ng ating bansa bunsod ng impeachment proceeding na ito.

Dalangin ko po na sana agad na magsimula ang paghilum ng pait, sugat at pagkakawatak-
watak ng ating bansa. Sana naman, pagkatapos nito ay tama na!

Let us move on and move forward.

Pag-tuunan na natin ng pansin ang mahahalagang problema sa ating bansa na may kinalaman sa ating ekonomiya at paglagay ng pagkain sa bawat lamesa.

Ano man ang maging hatol ng hukumang ito, I wish you and your family well Mr. Chief
Justice.

Nawa'y gumaling kayo mula sa inyong karamdaman at patnubayan nawa kayo, at tayong
lahat, ng Diyos.

From: Harry Roques Blog

Date: Wed, May 30, 2012 at 5:49 PM

New post on Harry Roque's Blog

GUILTY: When the defense acted as prosecutors

by harryroque

The rule is that the prosecution must prove the strength of its case. It cannot rely on the weakness of the defense. But in the historic conviction of Renato C. Corona, it was strangely the defense that ensured that Corona would be the first officer in Philippines history to be removed from office through impeachment.

The prosecution rested its case solely on Article 2 of the Articles of Impeachment, to wit: that he failed to disclose to the public his statement of Statement of Assets, Liability and Net Worth as required under the Constitution. This could have meant either of two things: one, he did not disclose his SALN as required by law; or two, he was not truthful in his declarations thereat.

At the onset of the trial, the prosecution immediately subpoenaed the former CJ's SALN that it had alleged, and rightfully at that, should have been made public. This means that the prosecution could not have meant to prove that his declarations in the SALN were untruthful precisely because they had not seen them. This was why they wanted Marites Vitug and Harvey Keh to take the witness stand: to state that they were denied access to these SALNs.

I reckoned that the Congressmen must have thought that the former CJ would go the way of former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierres. That is, that he would resign as soon as the articles are filed. But the former CJ did not resign. Confident, perhaps, that the prosecution did not have the goods on him, he opted to wage battle with the prosecutors and Malacañang.

The CJ was right. The prosecution did not have the goods on him. It appears that the prosecution only commenced with its case build-up after the transmittal of the impeachment articles to the Senate. In fact, they were so excited when the Land Registration Authority provided them with a computer printout of 45 properties allegedly belonging to the former CJ that they run to town with it even before they had the chance to verify the veracity and accuracy of the list.

And for it, they got tremendous flack. While they managed to prove the existence of 11 properties, the damaged has been done. Senators would take turns lambasting them for vilifying the name of the former CJ by revealing raw information to the public rather than to the impeachment court.

After which the prosecution had very little. There was BIR Commissioner Kim Henares who testified that the ex-CJ could not have lawfully acquired his declared property with his declared lawful income alone. But this was declared immaterial because the articles of impeachment did not allege that the ex- CJ amassed ill-gotten wealth.

Then there was the flip-flop in the PAL attendant's case under Article three. But even if the flip-flop did happen, the Senate was not impressed since this could not be attributable to the CJ alone, the SC being a collegial body. The prosecution then sought to prove that Corona received lots of free trips from PAL through the so-called platinum card. But this too was not allowed. Finally, the prosecution presented Justice Secretary Leila De Lima who unfortunately, did not have personal knowledge on how the former CJ allegedly altered records of court proceedings to make it appear that the majority of the court had already enjoined her from preventing former President GMA from leaving the country. Justice Serreno, in her dissent, claims that this was subject to certain conditions- which had not yet been complied with.

By the time the prosecution had rested, the betting was that the former CJ would be acquitted. But the strangest thing happened: the defense actually picked up the cudgels for the prosecution. First, they summoned Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and enabled her to present to the impeachment court the AMLAC report detailing that the ex-CJ had US$10-12million in bank deposits. Then the defense flip-flopped and contrary to its initial refusal, allowed the CJ to take the stand. In his opus, the ex-CJ proved what the prosecution could not: that he had US$2.4 Million and about 80 Million pesos in deposits, sums which he did not declare in his SALN. The climax was when the former CJ walked-out of the proceedings after his 3 hour monologue. That was the turning point. Even those who were unsure of the CJ's guilt could not absolve him lest they themselves earn the public ire.

The rest is history. On the basis of both the testimony of the Ombudsman and the former CJ, and courtesy of the latter's walkout, the Senate found Corona guilty. Thank goodness for the defense. It did a splendid job for the prosecution!