Sotto: No bloc voting in Corona impeachment

Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III on Tuesday said there will be no bloc voting in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, especially for the so-called "Enrile bloc."

"The Senate president has made it very clear to us and to many others who he talked that his vote is his vote, he is not influencing anyone, he does not want to influence anyone, even the so-called Enrile bloc," Sotto told reporters.

He issued the statement after some political analysts have poined out that the so-called Enrile bloc, composed of the Senate president, Sotto, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada and Sen. Gregorio Honasan, will be crucial in deciding Corona's fate.

Sotto, however, said that Enrile told them that he will only tell them his vote if they ask and want to know. He said the Senate president hasn't told him what his vote was.

As for his own vote, he said "more or less" he knows what his decision is.

"I decided after I prayed last night, I consulted my family," Sotto said.

Vote based on conscience, evidence

Sen. Edgardo Angara, for his part, said he will base his decision on his conscience and the evidence presented during the trial.

"My decision to either acquit or convict centers on his fitness to decide as the chief magistrate. The issue of the impeachment of the chief magistrate centers on that factor," Angara said in a statement released Tuesday.

Angara's son, Rep. Sonny Angara, is one of the spokespersons for the prosecution. The elder Angara, however, has inisted that his being a senator-judge has nothing to do with his son's role in the impeachment trial.

The senators are expected to vote on Corona's case later in the day. Sixteen votes are needed to convict him.

Sotto said that if ever Corona is convicted, they will have the order drafted after the trial, which he said is basically immediately executory.

"More or less, yun ang sinasabi ng Constitution," he said.

The senator said that if ever the defense panel brings the case to the Supreme Court, it would not be their problem anymore.

"Whatever happens after is not our problem anymore unless they bring it up with us," he said. — Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Defense: Corona's fate in hands of God, Senate

MANILA, Philippines -- Lawyers of Chief Justice Renato Corona said their client’s condition was in God’s hands and they would accept the decision if the Senate makes good on its threat to strike the impeached magistrate’s testimony and rule on his case should he fail to appear at Wednesday’s hearing.

Nevertheless, lawyer Rico Quicho, a spokesman for the defense, said they continued to hope that Corona would pull through and be cleared of the charges against him.

Corona, a diabetic who also has a history of heart bypasses, is confined at the intensive care unit of the Medical City hospital in Pasig City after he suffered hypoglycemia during his testimony on Tuesday.

His abrupt exit from the Senate session hall angered Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile who issued the ultimatum for him to show up on Wednesday or have his testimony stricken and the case decided on.

However, Corona’s doctors would not allow him to go to the Senate, saying he needed to be monitored over the next 48 hours because he faced the risk of heart attack.

“Kung matutuloy ang desisyon ni Senate President na kapag hindi makaharap si Chief Justice Corona mamaya ay i-strike out ‘yung kaniyang testimonya at magdedesisyon na sila, marangal po naming tatanggapin iyan (If the Senate President’s decision to strike out his testimony and decide on the case should Chief Justice Corona fail to appear, we will accept it honorably),” Quicho told Radyo Singko’s Punto Asintado.

“‘Yung kalagayan ni Chief Justice ngayon ay nasa kamay na ng Panginoon sapagkat ang sakit naman ho ay talagang di naman inaasahang pangyayari ‘yan, kung talagang ganoon po, ay maluwag nating tatanggapin iyan (The condition of the Chief Justice is now in the hands of God because no one really expected him to fall ill, and if that is the case, we will openly accept that),” he added.

But he said: “Kung ebidensya lang ang pagbabasehan, matindi ang aking paniniwala na wala talagang ebidensya. Pangalawa, kung mayroon man silang sinasabing ginawa ni Chief Justice, ito po ay di impeachable offense, iyon po ang aking paniniwala (If evidence is the only basis, I firmly believe that there really is none. Second, if there is any truth to what they say the Chief Justice did, this is not an impeachable offense, this is what I believe).” (Romsanne Ortiguero, InterAksyon.com)

source: interaksyon.com

Senator Miriam suggestion: End Corona impeach trial by June 7

MANILA, Philippines -- On the proposal of Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile to end the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona by end of May, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago has another suggestion: end it by June 7, which is the scheduled end of the Congress session.

Speaking at the resumption of the impeachment trial on Monday, Santiago said the impeachment court has the "authority to order the conclusion of trial on or before June 7, so as to allow judgment to be promulgated before Congress ends this session."

Santiago said that under the Rules of Court, specifically Rule 133, Section 6, the court has the power to stop further evidence on a particular point "when the evidence is already so full that some witnesses to same point cannot be reasonably expected to be additionally persuasive. But this power should be exercised with caution."

Santiago also cited Rule 119, Sec. 11, Paragraph (c) of the Rules of Court: "The prosecution and the defense may, in that order, present rebuttal and non-rebuttal evidence unless the court, in furtherance of justice, permits them to present additional evidence bearing upon the main issue."

Earlier, Enrile, who is presiding judge in the trial, said he wanted to end the trial by the end of May and was willing to extend the trial up until 10 p.m. to accomplish this goal.

source: interaksyon.com