Manila: Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile told prosecutors in the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona not to depend on the impeachment tribunal to issue a subpoena for an associate justice whom the prosecutors believe is on their side.
He said prosecutors should instead convince Supreme Court associate justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to voluntarily testify for the prosecution in court.
"The Senate as an impeachment court cannot subpoena Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to testify in the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona. If she refuses to testify, can we contempt her, can we imprison her?" Enrile asked the prosecutors.
Senators have agreed not to subpoena any Supreme Court associate justice to avoid a constitutional crisis, Senator Miriam Santiago said as she berated the prosecution for pushing a "head on collision" between the Senate, which acts as an impeachment tribunal, and the Supreme Court — which are co-equal bodies of the Philippine government.
"We are avoiding a constitutional crisis," Santiago, a former trial court judge and a judge-elect of the International Criminal Court, said.
Panel criticised
The prosecution panel which is composed of congressmen from the lower house of Congress "railroaded the impeachment complaint without [real good] witnesses and is now depending on the Senate to subpoena their witnesses".
The prosecution panel has been criticised for presenting witnesses who, finally, end up as witnesses for the defence.
At the same time, Senator Joker Arroyo, lead prosecutor in the impeachment trial of former president Joseph Estrada, chided the prosecution, saying they should not complain and claim being weak in the impeachment trial since they have the support of President Benigno Aquino who has been openly pushing for Corona's removal from office.
Malacanang, the presidential palace, should help the prosecutors get their own witnesses, said Arroyo.
Since it was definitely a trap, the prosecution team said they will not get Aquino's support in convincing Justice Sereno to testify against Chief Justice Corona. "We will do our best to maintain our independence," said Congressman Romero Quimbo, spokesman of the prosecution panel.
"We will not do this to win the impeachment case," said Quimbo, adding that Aquino's help at the time would be "inappropriate". "We will invite Justice Sereno," said Congressman Neri Colmenares, a member of the prosecution panel.
Restraining order
The prosecution has been trying to prove that Corona was solely responsible for the High Court's issuance of a temporary restraining order against the hold-departure order issued by the justice department against former president Gloria Arroyo last year. Corona is close to Arroyo and has been protecting her, said the prosecution.
The testimony of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima that Corona was able to convince the majority of Supreme Court justices to side with Arroyo was thrown out because her testimony was hearsay.
