Its Friday May 25, and it is a make or break for Renato C. Corona

The damage caused by Corona's dramatic walk-out may be lessened today if Corona, who as Cuevas promised in [1], is determined to be present today May 25 at his impeachment trial (day 42).This in spite of doctors advising him not to do so. Why? His defense counsel has told him it is quite crucial for him to be present. to be able to say he is sorry and to face a cross-examination from the prosecution panel.

Now the latest news[2] is that Corona is still in the ICU of Medical city, Thursday night. Maybe he needs to be wheeled dramatically into the Senate room. Real impartial judges will not be impressed of course.

Analysts have stated [3] that Corona had severely weakened his case by offering a conditional waiver and walking out.

We wish Corona the best of luck. and we fervently hope he will not suffer a fatal heart attack while on the dock.






Further reading:

[1] Corona to apologise to Imneachment Court




[2] Corona still in ICU, lawyers say.




[3] abs-cbnnews: CJ missed opportunity after waiver, walkout.

IBP head now sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

Source:IBP president: Corona should quit if....

To quote:

Roan Libarios, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, told Rappler that Corona will "lose his moral ascendancy" if he does not submit to cross-examination.

One nitpick is on the "moral ascendancy" part. There was no genuine display of such by the CJ in the impeachment trial. He let the defense panel work without much feedback on his part. Our bigger nitpick is on his condition, that Corona should appear today. Really we wanted an earlier statement from the IBP that Corona should resign, in fact earlier, even before his amazing appearance as a defense witness in the Senate yesterday, May 22, 2012.

Why? The IBP is a body of lawyers, recognized by the Supreme Court. It should of course not be political, but we fear it has been politicalised by the Chief Justice who was instrumental in installing Libarios as IBP head. (Is there now an IBP governor for Western Visayas region?)

Really, Roan Libarios should resign from the IBP too, NOT waiting for his patron Renato Corona to resign from the Supreme Court.

And we hope that "Utang na loob" and political machinations will be a thing of the past regarding the Supreme Court and the IBP.

We believe that one by one, supporters of the Chief Justice will be abandoning him one by one. We do not dwell on who are they.We should be generous to those who have seen the light at the end of the tunnel, those who truly repented.

Who is afraid of the Honorable Senator Miriam Santiago?

The lady senator said in public that no public discussion pertaining to the trial be allowed during the lull of the impeachement hearings which will resume in May 7.


Surveys on Corona were a “slap on the face” of senator-judges,
warning that those behind the surveys could be cited for indirect contempt by the impeachment court when the trial resumes on May 7.

“Don’t push the envelope too far because I might react because to me, this is really sacrilege,” surveys are very destructive.” Releasing surveys in the middle of a trial was a “blatant attempt to influence the mind of the judge,”



The Student Council Alliance of the Philippines released the result of a survey on Monday which was meant to gauge the students’ interest in and appreciation of the impeachment proceedings against Corona.

SCAP insists that its survey does not violate the “sub judice” rule, and said survey exercise is protected by the Constitution.
It emphasizes that SCAP is not a party to the Impeachment case of the Chief Justice.

Here is a rundown for the percentage of students showing distrust for Corona:

Percentage of Student Population

School	Distrusts Corona	Believes Corona not fit to remain
ADMU(Ateneo de Manila)	41	45
AdDU(Adamson University)	78.3	76.7
TSU(Tarlac State University)	75.4	76.8
DLSU(De la Salle)	69.3	63

From a previous poll, seventyfour (74%) of students at the state University of the Philippines distrusts Corona.

For the complete story please click on Inquirer.net: Students stand by poll, "We are not afraid of Miriam Santiago".

Follow the interesting comments of readers of Raissa Robles blog!

The link is http://raissarobles.com/2012/03/24/does-renato-c-corona-have-a-clone-living-in-the-us/#comment-37454

One of the properties is in the name of his daughter. Will try to extract the pertinent information, but we suggest you follow and read raissarobles.com. Another site worth following is rappler.com.

Have a good summer and a spiritual rest. Me, I will be busy getting rid of my books by blogging and web publishing my understanding of the contents.

Corona couple chickens out on testifying in impeachment court

The latest news from the defense panel is that it sees no need for Corona couple to appear it the impeachment hearing.

See inquirer.net: Defense fears Coronas would be ridiculed if they testify



Excerpt from above:


Citing fears that their clients might be subjected to intense grilling and public ridicule, the defense panel on Friday said it might not call Chief Justice Renato Corona and his wife Cristina to the witness stand, after all.


Defense lawyers Tranquil Salvador III and Rico Paolo Quicho said that Corona and his wife Cristina, who have already been “stripped in public” by the impeachment trial, would rather risk a potential public backlash than be subjected to intense grilling and ridicule at the Senate impeachment court.


The defense’s latest move came amid calls on Friday by leaders of a Jesuit-led religious organization and a Catholic schools’ association for the Chief Justice to open his dollar accounts, take a leave of absence from the Supreme Court and personally testify in the impeachment trial.

Incredible Statements and comments in the Impeachment trial

• Deed of sale notarized by SGV lawyer, says Corona wife.
  
  So what? The important thing is that the notary public must be qualified by the city.
  It is also strange that the notary public is in Makati whereas the transaction was done in Marikina (deed of sale).
  
  So what if the lawyer, Beth Montoya is an SGV lawyer??! Does that automatically empower her to notarize a document? Or cloak her with special aura of prestige to perform a notary public function?
  
  Heaven and earth may fade away but NOTHING will erase the fact that the notarization, witnessed himself by the great Chief Justice Corona was not BINDING! In other words the document should be thrown in the trash can!
  
  
  
  
• "Sraightforward" replies of Vicente was "proof that he was telling the truth" says Corona lawyers, one of them T. Salvador. Added the latter:
  
  
  One can tell if he was telling the truth with the way he testified. (Vicente) was there for some time and he was consistent with his testimony. He knows the documents involved and even guided the lawyers to identify those."
  
  So facetious these defense lawyers are. In a trial, documents take precedence over oral statements.
  
  Only stupid people can accept these statement from the defense panel without thinking. One telling information which came to light is that Vicente is a second cousin of Corona, the Chief Justice who is on trial. The fact that it was the prosecution discovering this tells a lot about the legal IQ of the defense team.
  
  
• Corona's vow: "Whether or not there was a TRO from the Supreme Court, I said I will open it in due time and the due time is next week. I have always said there is no problem with my dollar deposits because I can explain it.", (interview over dzBB on March 7 as printed in the March 15 issue of the Phil. Daily Inquirer, p. A.10
  
  His words does NOT carry weight, so telling of his credibility. Let's read what Cuevas response was:
  
  Cuevas , however feigned ignorance , saying that he"may be asleep or elsewhere" when the Chief Justice issued this assurance.
  
  Wow, the client speaks, the lawyer disagrees. Really the defense has feigned enough! This is a ploy to confuse the impeachment court, prosecution panel and the General Public.
  

Enough rants for now ......