Defense: Senate decision allows us to refute evidence

MANILA, Philippines - Chief Justice Renato Corona and his lawyers are ready to refute the evidence presented by the prosecution pertaining to his bank records at Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) after the Senate impeachment court denied the defense panel’s motion to suppress the bank documents.

“We are to file our comment and we are to raise our objections again on the bank documents. This is our right under the rules,” defense lawyer and defense panel spokesman Tranquil Salvador III said, referring to the comment on the prosecution’s final offer of evidence, which the defense will file today.

Salvador said that while the Senate impeachment court had ruled against the defense motion, it has also allowed the Corona camp to refute all evidence presented by the prosecution on the PSBank accounts.

“The thing is, they are inclined to allow it to stay. That’s my personal observation. The Senate as a whole is inclined to let it stand so that we can present our evidence in connection with that,” Salvador said.

“I think they are more careful in removing any evidence that is already there because it’s already before the public. To the mind of the public, it is already there. I think to my mind that is where they are coming from. And to allow us to refute when we present our evidence,” Salvador said.

“But I don’t want to pre-empt the fact that we are still to file a comment on this tomorrow on the same subject,” Salvador added.

Ramon Esguerra, another defense lawyer, reiterated that the defense would still manifest their continuing objection to the presentation of the bank documents as evidence.

“We expect the impeachment court to rule on them soon. Please note that we can and we will still object to these bank documents and accounts,” Esguerra said.

Karen Jimeno, another defense panel spokesperson, said the group does not believe that the senators’ decision would weaken their defense strategy. “The decision does not change our initial strategy on how to address the Articles of Impeachment. We will only have a slight adjustment in the presentation of evidence in Article 2,” Jimeno said.

“The defense respects the decision of the Senate impeachment court. We will do our best to be prepared in presenting our evidence,” she said.

The defense lawyers met with Corona and his wife Cristina yesterday to further enhance the list of witnesses and pieces of evidence they would present once their turn starts on Monday.

On the proposed new schedule of hearings, Esguerra said the defense has not been advised yet.

“But we might have to object as we should be afforded reasonable time to prepare for trial. We believe we cannot be rushed in presenting defense witnesses,” Esguerra added.

Salvador also reminded the public that the defense would be filing today the comment to the offer of evidence.

“So what we are trying to tell the court on the motion to suppress is to consider that for the time being. But of course, we cannot just avoid the reality that they will file the formal offer of evidence,” Salvador said.