Lawyer: PNoy-Revilla meeting during Corona trial improper

MANILA, Philippines - A legal expert believes that the meeting of President Benigno Aquino III with Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. at the height of the Corona impeachment trial had a sense of impropriety.

Lawyer Ma. Soledad Mawis, Dean of the Lyceum University of the Philippines College of Law, said Aquino should have not met with Revilla since the latter was acting as a judge in the trial.

"'Yun nga lang pong kumatok kayo doon sa kuwarto ng hukom nang wala yung kasama ninyo na kalaban na abogado, may ano ho 'yan eh, parang sense of impropriety sa harap ng ibang tao," Mawis said in an interview on ABS-CBN's Umagang Kay Ganda on Tuesday.

She said such meeting should have been prevented at all cost especially that the one undergoing the trial during that time was no less than former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.

"Kung kami pong mga ordinaryong tao o abogado eh malaking kabawalan po sa amin iyan, paano pa kaya po 'yung mga nasa matataas na tungkulin?" she asked.

Mawis said it would also be seen as inappropriate if Corona was the one who met with Revilla.

"Kung si Chief Justice kaya ho ang nag-imbeta sa mga tao pong ito, hindi po ba pangit tignan?" she said.

Mawis cited Article 243 of the Revised Penal Code which states that a executive officer who orders a judicial authority to act in a certain way can be held criminally liable.

According to the said provision, any executive officer who shall address any order or suggestion to any judicial authority with respect to any case or business coming within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of justice shall face an imprisonment of one month to six months (arresto mayor) and a fine not exceeding P500.

In an interview on ANC on Tuesday, Presidential Communications Operations Office Sec. Sonny Coloma said there was nothing wrong with the meeting since the Corona trial was not purely a judicial process.

"Kung tutuusin natin, political process po 'yung impeachment trial. Hindi naman po ito mahihintulad sa isang purely judicial procedure," Coloma said.

"Kaya nga po ang tawag sa kanila ay 'senator-judges.' Judges lang po sila for purposes of conducting that trial. Pero senador po sila na katulad ng Pangulo, ay mayroong direktong mandato sa ating mga kababayan," he added.

Coloma also said Aquino did not summon Revilla out of the blue since the senator met with president voluntarily.

In a privilege speech on Monday when he denied any involvement in the pork barrel scam, Revilla claimed that he once met over breakfast with President Aquino, then Transportation and Communications Sec. Mar Roxas and Budget Sec. Butch Abad at the time of the Corona trial.

He alleged that Roxas explained to him why Corona should be impeached while President Aquino personally asked him to vote in favor of the magistrate's conviction.

“Pare, parang awa mo na, ibalato mo na sa akin ito. Kailangan siya ma- impeach," Revilla said, quoting the President as telling him.

Reacting to Revilla's allegations, Malacañang confirmed that Aquino met with the senator during the time of the trial, but only to "verify persistent reports that the senators were being pressured by interest groups to influence the outcome of the impeachment trial, and he asked the senator to decide on the basis of its merits."

Roxas, meanwhile said it was Revilla who requested the meeting with Aquino, which he claimed would be about the cityhood of Bacoor, Cavite.

"It is natural for the President to meet with high-ranking officials of the government. Sen. Bong and I were former colleagues in the Senate, that is why when he told me that there was something he wished to take up with the President, including the cityhood of Bacoor and his leadership of the Lakas party, I made a way for them to meet," Roxas said in a statement in Filipino.