And here I was, prepared to sit in front of the television for four hours, at least!
I have just watched Day 2 of the Impeachment proceedings. I was so looking forward how it would proceed today but I was disappointed when it ended two hours after it started. I am not a lawyer, I am just an ordinary Filipino citizen who is interested in what is happening around and 12 units in basic Law subjects would not even be enough for me to fully understand all the legal hullabaloo.
Case Number 0022011, 2nd Day 2:06pm
The prosecution wanted to tackle Corona’s alleged failure to disclose his Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Net worth (SALN) at the start of the proceedings. The Impeachment Court denied the request by the Prosecution to have Corona and his family appear in court. The Impeachment Court said that Corona cannot be expected to testify against himself. Likewise his family cannot be summoned to testify against Corona. Sen.Cayetano expressed his reservations on the decision of the Impeachment Court to deny summons for Corona and his family. He disagreed with the decision to reject the summons. They had a thirty-minute adjournment and voted on the motion to summon the Corona family. It was a 14-6 vote in favor of the ruling. Earlier on, Sen. Enrile has agreed to subpoena the Register of Deeds. Further, the Impeachment Court denied the defense’ motion to exclude private prosecutions.
Presentation of Evidence
The Prosecution which was represented by Rep. Barzaga. He asked the Impeachment Court if they could start with the 2nd article of impeachment since according to him, and based on public opinions and media news, they are interested in knowing if the properties allegedly owned by Corona are truly his. Cuevas, representing the Defense argued about the manner of presentation and that public opinion should be disregarded. And he also said that the sequence of evidence should not be changed. They were not ready to present evidence for article one when Enrile asked why they were starting with article two. Sen. Arroyo said that they cannot limit which article is to be discussed. The Prosecution was ready to present computer-generated certified true copies of TCTs (Transfer Certificate of Title) as evidentiary materials but the Defense was not ready to cross-examine. They were at an impasse so the hearing was postponed until tomorrow.
If this was a boxing match, this time the Defense scored a point. I greatly admire Sen.Pres. Enrile in the way he is conducting this Impeachment trial. He surely knows his job. And I hope that in the next few days, there would be a fair and orderly trial. At least by tomorrow, the two sides would be ready to present and cross-examine said evidences. I want to know if the computer generated evidences are already authenticated by the Register of Deeds since the court have just issued subpoena to the Register of Deeds. My question is, if you were on the side of the Prosecution and you are the one who ask for postponement because you are not ready, wouldn’t that give a wrong signal to the people following the trial? In my lowly understanding on what transpired today, when you are in a battle, you should have enough ammunitions, right?
Day 3, here we go!
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