Justices might deliberate on Senate subpoena

MANILA, Philippines - Justices might deliberate a summons for them to appear before the Senate impeachment court, the Supreme Court (SC) said yesterday.

Speaking to reporters, SC spokesman Midas Marquez said the justices could respond to the subpoena from the Senate collegially or leave the decision to the individual discretion of the justices involved.

“I think there could also be issue on possible questions they would be asked in the trial,” he said.

It is still too early to tell how the justices would act on this issue since there is no actual subpoena yet from the impeachment court, he added.

Marquez said no guidelines govern the possible participation of SC justices in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

“This is really the first time the CJ is facing trial so there’s no guidelines if justices may testify,” he said.

“If the court issues a resolution on this issue, that will serve as precedent.”

Marquez said he would personally abide by a possible subpoena from the Senate impeachment court.

“As far as I am concerned, if I am subpoenaed I will comply with that subpoena,” he said.

Prosecutors want to present Associate Justices Ma. Lourdes Sereno, Presbitero Velasco, and Marquez as witnesses.

Velasco and Marquez were listed as hostile witnesses.

Velasco will be asked to testify on reports that Corona made handwritten corrections on the resolution that Velasco had written in granting a temporary restraining order on the travel ban on former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Marquez will be asked to comment on allegations that he suppressed Sereno’s dissenting opinion.

Associate Justices Roberto Abad, Diosdado Peralta, Jose Perez, Lucas Bersamin, Jose Mendoza, Bienvenido Reyes, Martin Villarama, Estela Perlas-Bernabe, and Sereno may also be asked to testify on the alleged flip-flopping on decisions under Corona’s watch.

Meanwhile, Marquez said the SC might stop the impeachment trial of Corona.

“That (issuance of a TRO) will always be a possibility,” he said.

“It’s up to the court to decide on what to do after it received comment of the respondents.”

Marquez said while the justices did not immediately issue a TRO during deliberation last Jan. 17, it did not mean that the SC had already dismissed the petitions.

Justices voted unanimously that there was no urgency to rule on the petition because they felt it necessary to first hear comments from the respondents, he added.

The petitions were filed by tax informer Danilo Lihaylihay, lawyer Vladimir Cabigao, former Integrated Bar of the Philippines president Vicente Millora, lawyer Oliver Lozano, lawyers Homobono Adaza and Allan Paguia, and journalists Herman Laurel and Rodolfo Salandanan and businessman Rufino Martinez.

Corona inhibited from the case and left the session hall, while the 14 other justices tackled it at the closing of their deliberations.