"Chief Justice Renato Corona’s defense team barnstormed
outside Manila before resumption of the impeachment
trial, Monday. They tried to explain why their man will be
acquitted.
In a Cebu press conference,
Jose Roy III and other counsels
said they’d cross-examine Justice
Secretary Leila de Lima’s defiance
of court orders to let former
President Gloria Arroyo skip town.
They’d also skewer the Aquino
administration’s “pattern of
disobedience of the law.”
Fine. But the spiels
skirted what is on everybody’s
mind. How will Corona
respond to Ombudsman
Conchita Carpio Morales’ 20
April order to confirm – and
justify --- hefty dollar
deposits? “Explain within 72
hours where an estimated P10
million in PSBank and other
deposits in BPI came from,”
Morales ordered. (Current
exchange rate: P42.1 = US$1).
They’re not reported in Carpio’s
Statement of Assets and
Liabilities (SALN).
Ordinary citizens deserve
straight answers. “Wait for action by
the Chief Justice, if any,” said defense
spokesperson Tranquil Salvador III.
How long? The barnstormers replay
their client’s dogged refusal to testify
since “there is no case.” Corona,
himself, will explain his foreign
exchange stash. This is known as
British politician Denis Healey’s First
Law Of Holes, “When you are in one,
stop digging.”
Arroyo justices barred release
of Corona’s dollar deposits by
clamping on a temporary
restraining order, on request by
PSBank. They set a hearing ---- for June 26. Will the impeachment
be over by then? Patay na ang
kabayo, by then?
Senate President Juan Ponce
Enrile tiptoed around the Ombudsman’s
order citing “different jurisdictions.” The
impeachment court decides issues of
fitness and removal, he said. The
Ombudsman prosecutes. Will 23
senator-judges play deaf-and-dumb to
the Ombudsman’s order?
Sen. Frank Drilon expects the
Chief Justice to scoot again to
colleagues in the Supreme Court.
(He’ll) ask for a temporary
restraining order to prevent Carpio-
Morales from acting on Corona ’s
SALN waiver and sift thru $10
million in various banks. Drilon
hoped, this time, the Chief Justice
will not contradict again his pledges
to be transparent. Well, “only death
renders hopes futile.”
Corona’s barnstormers
denounced the anti-graft agency’s move
by arguing: The Ombudsman “has no
jurisdiction over Corona. Malacañang
and its allies are moving heaven and
earth to destroy his reputation by
spreading lies and conditioning people
to go against him.”
“Obviously [it’s] a clear
retaliation [against] our decision on
Hacienda Luisita,” the Chief Justice
himself weighed in. He hit back at
recent surveys that showed him
nosedive. These were
“orchestrated to malign him in the
eyes of Filipinos.” That charge falls
flat to anyone who has seen the
professionalism displayed by Social
Weather Stations or Pulse Asia.
But how did Ombudsman Morales
shred a blackout where others failed
“Simple,” wrote Carmela Fonbuena of
Rappler, the new investigative reporter’s
group. “Corona gave the Office of the
Ombudsman permission.”
At the back of an SALN is a
pro-forma waiver that Corona
signed: “I hereby authorize the
Ombudsman, or his duly designated
representative, to secure from all
appropriate government
agencies…such documents as may
show my assets, liabilities, etc. That
includes dependents “covering past
years, to include the year I first
assumed office in government.”
Since then, Internet has been
swamped with “details” of those
accounts. Philippine Star’s Jaruis
Bondoc was informed Corona stashed
in seven transactions $2,858,977.22 in
Philippine Savings Bank-Katipunan
Branch. Six other transactions totaled
$2.3 million.
“A machine copy of Corona
deposits obtained by Business
Insight show that the first deposit –
presumably under the Foreign
Currency Deposit Unit (FCDU) – was
made on August 5, 2008 for
$764,3444.78,” Malaya publisher Jake
Macasaet wrote. (This was) under
account number 1241019340.
“Two succeeding deposits were
made in August 2008… On December
15, 2009, there was an outward
remittance of $471,678.46. We have no
information where the money went…”
And so on.
Corona argues FCDU deposits
can be examined only by the
depositor… (to prevent
‘laundering’). There is a law that
exempts deposits when there is
suspicion the money might have
come from illegal sources. If peso
and dollar deposits directly linked
to SALN are not included, that is
lying under oath. That is “an offense
committed by many but never by
the Chief Justice”--- before. That
underscores the relevance of the
Ombudsman’s enquiry.
There are instances when the
accused does not contest the evidence.
But neither would he admit or deny the
truth or falsity of the same evidence
Macasaet wonders: “If the Chief Justice
does not defend himself in the witness
stand, is (there a) possibility that he
may be convicted on the theory of
“Nolo contendere”?
Pag mayrong usok ay may
siga. “Where there’s smoke, there’s
fire.” The only way Corona can
prevent more smoke from wafting
up is to abide by the waiver he
signed on his SALN.
“Three things can not long be
hidden,” Buddha once said. “The
sun, the moon, ---and the truth.”
All eyes, meanwhile, are on Carpio-
Morales ---and Corona, of course.
"Chief Justice Renato Corona’s defense team barnstormed
outside Manila before resumption of the impeachment
trial, Monday. They tried to explain why their man will be
acquitted.