Prosecution mulls trimming down charges vs Corona

MANILA, Philippines - Prosecutors of the House of Representatives hope to end the impeachment trial or at least the presentation of their case by the middle of next month.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the prosecution is studying various options on how to speed up the trial, including limiting the presentation of the Articles of Impeachment.

The prosecution is considering the submission of the legal memorandums on the charges contained in the Articles of Impeachment, Belmonte said.

Belmonte and House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II were at the Senate yesterday before the start of the 19th day of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Gonzales said the prosecution is mulling over the possibility of trimming down the Articles of Impeachment to end trial by March 12, 2012.

“Because with so many objections by the defendant, with so many technicalities being raised, this could go on until March 2013,” he said.

The prosecution is studying the option of limiting the presentation of evidence on Articles 2, 3 and 7, Gonzales said.

The House of Representatives has filed eight Articles of Impeachment against Corona.

The Senate has worked for one month as an impeachment court and so far, the prosecution has managed to present only Article 2.

Gonzales said the prosecution is confident of securing a conviction of Corona with just the evidence they have presented for Article 2.

“In (Article) 2 alone we are pretty confident,” he said. “There is sufficient evidence. This is still the subject of discussion, but we definitely want to finish the proceedings before the Lenten break.”

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, a prosecution spokesman, said some prosecutors have stated their desire to just submit the legal memorandums for the other five Articles of Impeachment for consideration of the senator-judges to abbreviate the process.

Marikina Rep. Romero Quimbo, another prosecution spokesman, said a concern of some prosecutors is that they do not want to waste preparation for all eight articles.

Witnesses have been advised and were getting ready for the trial so it would be unfair for them to abbreviate the process, he added.

– Paolo Romero, Marvin Sy