The prosecution’s self-inflicted wounds

““Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus” which means

“False in one thing, false in everything”? “

Written by : ATTY. DODO DULAY

(graphic from The Manila Standard)

Judging from their media pronouncements before the start of Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona’s impeachment trial, the House prosecution team probably thought they had an open-and-shut case against Corona. How they must have had a rude awakening when the impeachment trial got underway. What they thought would be a cakewalk turned out to be a series of embarrassing blunders and missteps that became quite painful to watch. And to think Corona’s defense team hadn’t even started presenting their evidence yet.

The start of trial proper on Day 2 began rather ominously. The viewing public expected the prosecution team to begin presenting its evidence on Article I of the impeachment complaint. But when asked to begin the presentation of its evidence, the prosecution represented by Rep. Elpidio Barzaga admitted they were not ready to present evidence on Article I but were ready on Article II regarding Corona’s failure to disclose his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN). Barzaga tried to salvage the day by arguing that he was ready to present certified true copies of titles and deeds of absolute sale as evidence. But without the official custodian testifying on these documents’ authenticity, these would be inadmissible as evidence. So when Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile asked if the prosecution would rather postpone or proceed with the presentation of evidence, Barzaga tried to wriggle out of embarrassment by saying that the prosecution was willing to postpone – and this is the clincher – “in order to accord the defense (the opportunity) to prepare for the proceedings.” Utang na loob pa ng defense.

As the trial went on, things went from bad to worse. When the prosecution presented its tenth witness, lawyer Noli Hernandez, who is a senior vice president of Megaworld, they were in for a big surprise. Instead of bolstering their case, Hernandez demolished the prosecution’s argument that Corona violated the canons of judicial ethics when he received a huge discount from Megaworld—for there was no discount but a necessary price reduction. Hernandez also denied that the P10-million price reduction it gave the Coronas for the Bellagio condominium unit was in exchange for favorable Supreme Court (SC) decisions involving Megaworld. Hernandez said the unit was water-damaged after a typhoon and the economic situation was not good in 2008, prompting the company to cut the price by about 40 percent. Although Corona wrote a decision in favor of Megaworld, Hernandez says this was four years before Corona bought the Bellagio unit. In fact, Hernandez adds that after Corona’s purchase of the Bellagio unit, Megaworld lost two cases before the SC which cost them some P47-million in monetary awards to their opponents.

Apparently, the prosecution violated the oft-quoted maxim of trial technique: Never ask a question to which you don’t already know the answer. That means don’t put your witness on the stand unless you know what he’s going to say ahead of time. Reacting to the unexpected testimony of their own witness, prosecution spokesman Rep. Miro Quimbo now says the Megaworld executive was not saying the exact truth. Isn’t that like calling their own witness a liar?

Poor fella. Nabansagan pang sinungaling.

And then came the finger-pointing. If you will recall, just days before the start of the impeachment trial, Rep. Miro Quimbo was all over the television, radio and newspaper claiming that Corona had 45 real estate properties. He even dared Corona to prepare the deed of donation for 45 real properties under his and his children’s names so the government can take hold of these once their ownership is proven. Thanks to the Internet, Quimbo’s words have been memorialized in cyberspace - permanently.

Fast forward to Day 11 of the impeachment trial. House lead prosecutor Rep. Niel Tupas, admits that Corona does not own 45 real estate properties and blames the erroneous media reports on the Land Registration Authority (LRA). “We just want to put on record that the 45 did not come from the prosecution. It was a letter.....”, Tupas said before being cut off due to loud groans from spectators inside the Senate. For his part, Quimbo says he does not recall saying any such thing. Both being lawyers, haven’t they come across the Latin phrase “Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus” which means “False in one thing, false in everything”?

So after the dust has settled, what did Tupas have to say about all these? In a morning TV talk show, he was heard saying that what has happened is part of the strategy of Corona’s defense team to make them look like amateurs and unprepared. Is he serious?! Maybe someone should tell Tupas that they’re doing a great job on their own. Or maybe, as several cyber denizens have suggested, they should spend more time behind a book rather than in front of the cameras.

Prosecuting is more fun in the Philippines

It will be fun to watch Tupas and the other House “hot shots” start parading their legal knowledge or lack of it before the Senate. I have seen JPE correct the presentation of supposed “expert resource persons” in committee hearings, so woe to ill-prepared persons at the trial.

By Efren Danao

The Department of Tourism was probably not thinking of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona when it coined that slogan about the Philippines’ being more fun to do things in. Nevertheless, it will not detract from the fact that the trial will provide fun and entertainment to Filipinos who are in dire need of diversion amid their economic travails.

I could hardly wait for the opening of the great entertainment at the Senate on Monday, January 16, at 2 p.m. Senators will be wearing judicial robes to show the solemnity of the proceedings but this will not deprive us of the expected fun and entertainment to ensue. I’m sure millions of Filipinos will be glued to their television sets to watch the unfolding of what promises to be the biggest blockbuster of the year, produced by Malacañang. The Executive may deny till they are blue in the face that they have nothing to do with this entertainment production but very few will believe them. After all, they have been speaking off both sides of their mouth on the issue.

The House “hot shots” were having fun presenting to media and the public their supposed evidence against Chief Justice Renato Corona when Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the inveterate KJ that he is, asked them to keep their trap shut. JPE was later joined by Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, and Senators Ping Lacson, Gringo Honasan, Pia Cayetano and Koko Pimentel in admonishing the House prosecution team from making public pronouncements about the impeachment trial of CJ Corona.

Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. of Iloilo, chief House prosecutor, immediately denied any wrongdoing. He and other prosecutors maintain that the House is not under the jurisdiction of the Senate sitting as an impeachment court because the trial has not yet started. He also argued that they were not even discussing the merits of the impeachment case. Huh? If he really believes so, then they should hold his ground and continue presenting their “evidence” to media and the public. They have today and tomorrow to show the world that they really know more about legal procedures than JPE. If Tupas and Co. will act as if they are the repository of all legal wisdom in the world, then watch real fireworks in the impeachment trial.

It will be fun to watch Tupas and the other House “hot shots” start parading their legal knowledge or lack of it before the Senate. I have seen JPE correct the presentation of supposed “expert resource persons” in committee hearings, so woe to ill-prepared persons at the trial. JPE might be joined by Senators Miriam Defensor Santiago, Edgardo J. Angara, Joker Arroyo and possibly Franklin Drilon in the intense questioning of the prosecutors and their prosecution witnesses. Some of the senators who are not lawyers might not join the fray but you can bet this will only add more color to the fun.

I don’t know if Tupas has had any experience in court litigation. I know that Rep. RodoIfo Farinas of Ilocos Norte topped the Bar exams. I also know that Deputy Speaker Raul Daza of Northern Samar is an accomplished lawyer. But he and Farinas are among those in the House panel that have remained silent so far. The other members of the House prosecution panel are Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada 3rd of Quezon, Reynaldo Umali of Mindoro Oriental, Elpidio Barzaga Jr. and Joseph Emilio Abaya of Cavite, Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna party-list, Kaka Bag-ao of Akbayan party-list; and Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao of Isabela province. Assistant Majority Leader Romero Quimbo of Marikina City is the panel spokesman. Quimbo will be assisted by Rep. Sonny Angara of Aurora, the son of Sen. Edgardo J. Angara.

The impeachment court will dispose of some preliminary issues on Monday before proceeding to the trial proper. These issues are whether it can subpoena officers and members of the House, a co-equal body. CJ Corona, who is evidently unconvinced that congressmen are speed readers, has asked the Senate to subpoena the congressmen to determine if they had read the voluminous Articles of Impeachment and their attachments before they signed them.

I covered the Batasan from 1983 to 1998 and I learned that it was easier then to get a voluminous bill signed by congressmen than to have a two-page simple bill approved on the floor. A bill setting up a supposed “One-Stop Shop” was signed by more than 100 congressmen, enough to assure its passage in plenary. Then, during the period of debates, it was shown that the bill would result in the abolition of the National Economic Development Authority. And the congressmen who signed it didn’t even read this provision abolishing the NEDA!

The other issue that should be resolved by the Senate is whether it should defer hearing the impeachment charges because of pending petitions before the Supreme Court seeking such deferment.