MANILA, Philippines —  Following a six-week break, the trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona resumes in the Senate against the backdrop of an Ombudsman initiative to investigate allegations that Corona maintains an unreported $10-million dollar account.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday said he has no objections to the Office of the Ombudsman’s plan for a separate investigation into the alleged dollar account while the impeachment trial is ongoing.

Enrile, acting as the presiding officer of the Senate impeachment court, said the Ombudsman can investigate Corona on his alleged dollar bank accounts since the anti-graft body has a mandate separate from that of the Senate impeachment court.

“The Ombudsman has a jurisdiction different from ours. (The Senate’s) jurisdiction is (to try) the removal of the impeached person, while the Ombudsman’s (jurisdiction) is prosecution of people, including impeachable officers, if they violate the law,” Enrile said in an interview over radio DZBB.
Enrile said the Ombudsman has the power to investigate government officials as provided under Article 11 of its rules of procedure.

“Thus if they have a case against a government official, they can conduct investigation motu propio,” he said.

“They can even file a case against me. They can also investigate even the President. Only that they cannot file a case against him within his tenure because the President is granted special immunity from suit. But as far as I know, only the President enjoys special immunity,” Enrile pointed out.
Enrile also said the Senate impeachment court will do everything possible to finish the proceedings before the end of this month, even to the point of extending trial hours from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. or “even until midnight.”

He said he will talk to senator-judges, members of the House prosecution panel and the defense panel to be open to holding a four-day weekly trial from Monday to Thursdays so that the Senate can focus its attention to legislative work.

Congress is set to adjourn again on June 6. Enrile said that if the defense panel is bent on presenting 10 or more witnesses, he sees no reason for Corona’s camp not to be able to conclude its presentation of witnesses before the adjournment.

Enrile, on the other hand, refused to reiterate his call for Corona to testify before his own trial saying he will leave it up to the SC chief and his lawyers to make that crucial decision.
Lawyer Tranquil Salvador III, said the defense is expecting the court to call former Manila City mayor Lito Atienza’s back to the witness stand to testify and shed more light on the circumstances surrounding the property sold by Mrs. Corona’s Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc. (BGEI) to the city government of Manila.

The prosecution panel claimed Mrs. Corona is not authorized to receive P34-million in proceeds from the sale of a property owned by her relatives in government to the Manila city government.
Marikina City Representative Romero Quimbo had pointed out Mrs. Corona was using a 21-year old special power of attorney (SPA) at the time of the negotiations with Atienza.

The 11-man House prosecution panel yesterday asked Corona to heed the call of some senators for him to take the witness stand and explain his bank accounts, saying that it would “reverse the tide of public opinion against him.”

Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo and Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, both spokespersons for the panel, said the call made by the senator-judges could compel him to take the witness stand.
“If he wants any chance of reversing the tide of public opinion against him, he needs to testify. We are convinced that no Corona testimony means very little chance of acquittal. Even the senators want him to testify,” Quimbo said in an interview.

Senators Gregorio Honasan III, Franklin Drilon and Jinggoy Estrada earlier agreed Corona himself should personally explain his failure to declare his peso and dollar accounts in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN). Sen. Loren Legarda also took note that Corona’s appearance before the trial was “crucial.”

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara said the Senate members’ call might force the House-impeached Chief Magistrate to personally answer the allegations hurled against him at the impeachment court.
“It definitely puts pressure on him but whether he is sensitive to such opinion has yet to be determined. Recall that he has many times stated that he would personally explain in due time or at the proper time,” he said.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares said the senator judges made the call because the defense lawyers failed to present enough evidence to convince them that the Chief Justice is not guilty.
“We believe he is afraid to testify as he is vulnerable to cross examination. However, he should heed the opinions of the senator judges for him to testify because it means they are not satisfied with the evidence presented so far by the defense,” he said.

But President Benigno S. Aquino III challenged Corona tell the truth about his alleged bank deposits.
“I have been told that what I have read in the media that there is at least that much in an account accredited to him so he needs to explain it. There is no exemption to that,” the President said in a press conference after leading the 70th commemoration of the Fall of Corregidor here.

“Why do you have that much (money), exceeding your salary? That’s unexplained. If that is unexplained, there is a presumption that unexplained wealth is presumed to be ill-gotten. So there is no option that ‘Will I explain this?’ The minute he doesn’t explained it, the presumption of ill-gotten remains and that is not an opinion, that is law. He is the chief magistrate, he should be the first one to be complied,” the President said.

He admitted that he has not seen any document that says that Corona owns such bank accounts “at this point in time.”