Who wants retired Supreme Court Justice Serafin Cuevas out of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona?
The 83-year-old Cuevas, who has become a sort of a rock star because of his performance as lead defense counsel in the afternoon TV-radio spectacle before a nationwide audience, has revealed purported efforts by Malacañang to get him out just two weeks into the Senate trial.
Cuevas said he had been approached on a number of occasions by a lawyer to deliver a supposed message from Malacañang.
He said he was being asked to leave the defense panel in exchange for the withdrawal of the criminal case against Magtanggol Gatdula, the recently sacked director of the National Bureau of Investigation.
“I was told that the President wanted me out as a bargaining chip in the case, that they would no longer pursue it provided that I withdraw,” the counsel said in Filipino in an interview with the Inquirer in his Makati City office on Saturday night.
Cuevas is also the legal counsel of the influential Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), of which Gatdula is also a member. Gatdula has been implicated in the alleged kidnapping of an undocumented Japanese woman.
Cuevas identified the emissary, supposedly a member of Malacañang’s “rah-rah” boys, but asked that his name be withheld. He said the man, his former student at the University of the Philippines’ College of Law, feared Palace repercussions.
“I know him to be with Malacañang, (but) I’m not sure whether he’s authorized or he is doing it himself,” the defense counsel said. “I don’t speak with the President anyway … I do not want to add credence to that.”
Asked for comment, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a phone interview that if Cuevas had proof, he should identify the emissary.
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