MANILA (6th Update, 4:15 p.m.) — Lawyers of Chief Justice Renato Corona challenged anew Monday before the Senate impeachment court the validity of the complaint filed against the chief magistrate. Defense lead counsel Serafin Cuevas said they find nothing in the impeachment complaint that states the 188 congressmen who signed it were convened at any time.\u201cImpeachment must be treated with caution and not haphazardly done,\u201d he said. Lawyer delos Angeles, another counsel for the defense, also chided the 188 lawmakers for the \u201cblitzkrieg\u201d endorsement of the impeachment complaint last December 12, \u201cbowing to President Benigno Aquino III\u2019s wish to see Corona out of the Supreme Court.\u201dIt is a ploy to weaken the checks and balances in government, delos Angeles said, as he made an appeal to the senator-judges not to allow \u201cthe guillotine to fall on judicial independence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRegrettably, we have witnessed the unusual rubber-stamping by the majority of the House of Representatives who never even read the articles of impeachment. The blitzkrieg endorsement to the Senate was principally undertaken by the party-mates of the President,\u201d delos Angeles said. Aquino, who disapproved Corona\u2019s installation of Chief Justice in May 2010 supposedly in violation of election ban, had publicly campaigned for the magistrate\u2019s removal. As a result, delos Angeles said the government \u201clent its full and awesome powers to interfere in the impeachment proceedings to oust the Chief Justice and to intimidate the Supreme Court.\u201dCuevas also said Corona was not given due process, thus the impeachment should be null and void. He said also scored in his closing argument Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales for overstating Corona\u2019s dollar accounts using an unauthenticated document. Carpio-Morales, citing documents from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), recently told the court that Corona allegedly owns some $10 million spread out in 82 accounts in five banks. The AMLC report covered the years 2003 to 2011. There are a total of 423 transactions, according to the Commission on Audit, adding inflows reached $28,740,497.93 while outflows hit $30,758,878.71.But Corona\u2019s lawyers disputed the number as the magistrate only had four accounts after enlisting the help of accountants. Cuevas said the Ombudsman’s testimony on the AMLC report is inadmissible, useless and a mere \u201cscrap of paper.\u201dThere was no proper attestation in the AMLC report presented by Ombudsman Morales,\u201d Cuevas said. He said evidence not authenticated should not be accepted in court, such as the AMLC report. He also said that the defense panel was able to prove that those who filed the accusation had unfounded claims of $10 million belonging to Corona. Cuevas said Morales admitted that there was no criminal case against Chief Justice, but conducted investigation because of strength of accusations.\u201cWe were able to show that the chief justice does not have 45 properties, as the prosecution said, but only five,\u201d he also stressed. Last March, Land Registration Authority (LRA) Administrator Eulalio Diaz III testified that the Chief Justice does not have 45 real properties as earlier reported by the House prosecution panel, which has since trimmed the list to 21.As to Corona\u2019s failure to declare all his assets and properties in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), the defense panel admitted the delayed declaration, but said it was not intentional because of problems with the Chief Justice\u2019s properties.
\n \u201cWe pray that our senators will be enlightened, that justice will prevail and that unity will return to the republic,\u201d Cuevas said.
\nCorona has been accused of betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution hurled by the House of Representatives, where 188 members moved to elevate the articles of impeachment in December last year. <\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.sunstar.com.ph\/breaking-news\/2012\/05\/28\/defense-challenges-impeach-complaint-validity-223812<\/p>\n
Each year in February the Philippines hot air balloon festival returns to Clark Pampanga. Visitors planning to attend this popular event in Clark opt to stay in Clearwater Resort which is considered to be the best hotel in Clark Philippines. This hotel in Clark is also a favorite holiday destination near Manila during Holy Week, Easter, Christmas and New Year holidays also. This hotel in Clark is also one of the best resorts near Manila for families to relax, unwind and enjoy the outdoor facilities of this popular resort in Clark Philippines. Even during school breaks, families would take their children to enjoy the outdoor facilities of this popular resort in Pampanga which is located quite near to Manila. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MANILA (6th Update, 4:15 p.m.) — Lawyers of Chief Justice Renato Corona challenged anew Monday before the Senate impeachment court the validity of the complaint filed against the chief magistrate. Defense lead counsel Serafin Cuevas said they find nothing in the impeachment complaint that states the 188 congressmen who signed it were convened at any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-angeles-city-clark-subic-and-pampanga"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.clearwaterphilippines.com\/resort\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.clearwaterphilippines.com\/resort\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.clearwaterphilippines.com\/resort\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.clearwaterphilippines.com\/resort\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.clearwaterphilippines.com\/resort\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.clearwaterphilippines.com\/resort\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18937\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.clearwaterphilippines.com\/resort\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.clearwaterphilippines.com\/resort\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.clearwaterphilippines.com\/resort\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}