Thursday, May 3, 2012

Complete Acquittal from the Articles

As the Impeachment Trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona continuous, more and more articles are being withdrawn from the prosecution due to the lack of supporting evidences which will point to the Chief Justice’s involvement in many of his allegations.

However, a mere withdrawal of 5 out of 9 articles is not enough for the defense to ensure that the same articles would not be used again. And so the camp of the Chief Justice plans to seek acquittal of not just one article, but all 5 articles of impeachment filed against him by the prosecution.

Complete Acquittal from the Articles Corona’s lawyer, Ramon Esguerra, feared that if Articles 1, 4, 5, 6 and 8 were simply withdrawn “without prejudice,” then the allegations contained in the articles could be used again in filing another impeachment case against the Chief Justice after the one-year ban for filing lapses.

“[If it is] dismissed with prejudice, I think we can agree with that…They can’t refile anything on this five articles anymore…If it will amount to an acquittal, then that’s fine with us. But if you’re saying: No, we’re withdrawing this without prejudice to refiling them from December or after the one year, that’s different. How can we agree to that?” Esguerra said over a phone interview on Wednesday.

For this reason, Esguerra said the defense team would first seek a clarification from the prosecution team whether they were withdrawing the five articles with or without prejudice.

And if the prosecution team decides to withdraw the allegations without prejudice, then Corona’s camp will present evidence to seek the acquittal of the Chief Justice on the five articles of impeachment.

“We might as well present evidence on the five articles so that there will also be a ruling ultimately by the Senate sitting as an impeachment court on the five articles not only the three. That’s just fair,” he said.
“You can’t just go to court and say: You know, I’m accusing you of 10 counts but I’m withdrawing nine [and] I will stick to one,” Esguerra added.

According to latest Philippines Current Events, this statement was submitted after the prosecution rested its case against Corona after presenting only evidence and witnesses for only three of eight articles in the impeachment complaint.

According to Philippines News Today, the three articles submitted for decision to the Senate impeachment court were Article II pertaining to Corona’s alleged non-disclosure of statement of assets, liabilities and net worth, Article III on his alleged lack of proven competence, probity, integrity and independence and Article VII pertaining to his alleged “partiality” in the granting of a temporary restraining order on the government’s watchlist order against former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last November 15.




No comments:

Post a Comment