The lead defense counsel of Chief Justice Renato Corona on Tuesday said he might resort to a court order, possibly from the Supreme Court, barring the Senate as an impeachment tribunal from receiving bank documents as evidence unless it entertained a motion for reconsideration he would file.
Serafin Cuevas, a former justice secretary and former associate justice of the Supreme Court, was about to file on Monday night a motion for reconsideration right after the Senate issued subpoenas to officials of two Philippine banks to produce documents showing that Corona has deposits he allegedly failed to declare in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).
However, Senator Francis Escudero immediately pointed out that only senator-judges were allowed to file such motions for reconsideration on rulings of the Senate President as presiding officer.
Escudero said the prosecution and defense panels were prohibited from doing so under Rule 6 of the impeachment court.
Santiago motion
While Cuevas did not challenge Escudero’s statement at the time, Senator Miriam Santiago, who was absent on Monday, submitted a letter to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Tuesday which constituted a motion for reconsideration against the subpoenas.
Santiago cited three reasons the Senate should reconsider the orders issued to representatives of Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) and Bank of the Philippine Islands branches in Makati City where Corona purportedly keeps deposits.
First, Santiago reminded the impeachment court it had already ruled against accepting evidence related to paragraph 2.4 of Article 2 referring to ill-gotten wealth.
“Since 2.4 is the only paragraph that specifically mentions ‘bank deposits,’ any requests for subpoena concerning any bank deposits should be rejected,” she said.
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