‘If you can’t win a case, delay it’

The impeachment trial is grinding too slowly because of legal technicalities that the defense keeps raising every inch of the way. The whole session last Tuesday was wasted on wranglings over legal technicalities such that not a shred of evidence was presented until the session was adjourned. The witnesses, including Commissioner Kim Henares of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, who were subpoenaed to testify, went home without being able to say a single word.

Lawyers have a saying: “If you can’t win a case, delay it.” I am not saying that Chief Justice Renato Corona’s defense team is doing just that, but if it is, it is certainly succeeding beautifully.

The defense team led by retired Supreme Court justice and law professor Serafin Cuevas, backstopped by a bevy of experienced trial lawyers, is taking advantage of the relative inexperience of the prosecution team composed of congressmen. The prosecutors are assisted by private lawyers, some of whom were students of Cuevas. But they are hampered by a ruling that only congressmen can be the main prosecutors and the private lawyers can only assist them.

Nevertheless, the prosecution was able to present the statements of assets, liabilities and networth (SALNs) of the Chief Justice and the titles to his and his family’s properties in Taguig, Quezon City and Marikina, despite vigorous attempts by the defense to block their presentation.

A comparison of the SALNs and the deeds of absolute sale readily shows that the values of the properties listed in the SALNs are much lower than their acquisition costs. The implication is that Corona undervalued the properties in his SALNs to hide the fact that he could not afford them with his legitimate salaries in the government.

Commissioner Henares was subpoenaed to present the tax returns of Corona and family to determine if they, especially the Corona children, can afford to buy the real estate properties on the income that they declared in their tax returns. The registers of deeds of other Metro Manila cities were subpoenaed to present more deeds of sale and transfer certificates of title. But as I said earlier, they were sent home because the impeachment court was adjourned before they could be called to testify.

Because of legal technicalities, too much time is wasted. The defense should be reminded that an impeachment court is not a criminal court that is ruled by the Rules of Court and the Rules of Evidence. The Senate has its own rules on impeachment trials and uses the Rules of Court and the Rules of Evidence only as supplements to its own rules. Therefore, these latter rules can be disregarded when they conflict with the Senate rules. Let us not forget that the purpose of an impeachment court is to find out the truth, not to show the public that the lawyers know the intricacies of legal proceedings.

That is the reason Senator-judge Franklin Drilon directed his controversial questions to the clerk of court of the Supreme Court (if she had the SALNs with her; she answered in the affirmative). For that, the defense is now asking Drilon to inhibit himself from the trial. Why should he? A senator-judge is allowed to ask questions of witnesses just as judges of the regular trial courts and the justices of the appellate courts have the right to ask questions of witnesses. The reason is for them to determine the truth.

Another bone of contention is the amount of evidence necessary to convict. Is it preponderance of evidence or proof beyond reasonable doubt?

Cuevas says it should be guilt beyond reasonable doubt, which would make it very difficult to convict Corona. Presiding officer Juan Ponce Enrile says since it is not a criminal trial, the evidence should be less than proof beyond reasonable doubt but a little more than preponderance of evidence.

The reason is that the guilty official will lose neither his freedom nor his property but only his office. So a smaller amount of evidence is necessary to convict him. In the final analysis, the question that the senator-judges will have to answer is: Is Corona still fit to be the chief justice of the Supreme Court?

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I received a rejoinder from SM Baguio on our Jan. 23 column about the impending massacre of fully grown pine trees to give way to a parking lot or building. SM Baguio said the pine trees will not be cut but will be “balled” and transferred to another location.

In addition, SM said, instead of merely complying with the stipulation that 20 saplings be planted for every tree “balled,” “We decided to go beyond the requirement and have increased this to 50 saplings for every tree we will transfer.”

That is supposed to remove the opposition from environmentalists against removing their beloved pine trees.

I have a better suggestion: Why not hire an environmental architect who will incorporate the trees into his building plans? Imagine how much better the new SM mall would be if it has pine trees shooting up through the floors and roof. Then it can be the only mall in the Philippines where you can shop and dine under the pine trees, literally.

Modern architecture now incorporates nature into building plans. Remember Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous residence called “Falling Waters,” where he incorporated an existing waterfall into his residence? “Falling Waters” is now a classic in architecture being studied by students all over the world.

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KAPIHAN NOTES: Guests for this morning’s Kapihan sa Manila at the Diamond Hotel are former President Joseph Estrada, Dean Amado Valdez of the UE College of Law, and the spokespersons of the prosecution and defense panels as well as of the impeachment court.