MANILA, Philippines — The historic impeachment trial of embattled Chief Justice Renato C. Corona formally started Monday after Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, presiding officer of the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, denied for lack of merit Corona’s motion for a preliminary hearing designed to have the complaint dismissed.

Enrile handed down the ruling after the legal counsel of Corona led by former Supreme Court Associate Justice Serafin Cuevas and Ilolio Rep. Niel Tupas, lead prosecutor of the House of Representatives, debated on the Chief Justice’s motion.

Despite the setback, Corona’s lawyers are ready to exercise a number of legal options available to them to defend the embattled Chief Justice in the next few days.

Dean Jose Roy III, one of the defense lawyers, said they are prepared to exhaust all legal means to acquit their client who was denied a preliminary hearing by the Senate impeachment court.

Enrile, who sits as presiding officer of the impeachment court, also denied the petition filed by a lawyer of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) to cite the 11-man prosecution panel in contempt.

The defense panel is not also discounting the possibility of elevating the case to the Supreme Court but exercising that option is “a different matter.”

“We are unhappy with the decision of the impeachment court but as I said it was made clear to us that they listened to our arguments. That they read and heard what we have said in those arguments,” Roy told reporters in an ambush interview.

“Now, as you all know, the option to go to the Supreme Court is available (but) whether or not we will exercise that is a different matter,” Roy said, adding that “at any rate there are already petitions” pending before the Supreme Court questioning the legality of the impeachment complaint.

Fatally flawed

In the Corona motion, it was cited that the impeachment complaint was fatally flawed as there was no valid verification of the complaint by 188 congressmen, who signed the impeachment charges last December 14. It also stated that it was an impossible for all the 188 congressmen to have read the charges and signed the impeachment complaint in so short a time.

Tupas asked the Senate impeachment court to convict Corona, but Cuevas stressed that the Chief Justice must be acquitted.

Ten lawyers representing the Corona camp and 10 congressmen representing the House prosecution panel entered their names and as counsels before the Senate.

The hearing started at 2:11 p.m., with 21 senator-judges attending, and ended at 3:40 p.m. Hearing resumes this afternoon for the trial proper.

Chief Justice Corona and his wife Cristina attended the hearing and were seated at the VIP section of the Senate session hall.

Corona arrived at the Senate at past 1 p.m., accompanied by his wife and two children – Carla and Francis. Supreme Court spokesperson Midas Marquez was also with the Chief Justice.

Cuevas said he had asked Corona to appear Monday as a sign of respect to the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, and to show to everybody that he has not done anything wrong.

He thus entered Corona’s “plea of not guilty” to all the eight articles of impeachment.

Based on the pronouncements of Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, Enrile was given the free hand to rule on legal matters raised during the trial.

After hearing the arguments of Cuevas and Tupas, Enrile decided that there is no need for a preliminary hearing, saying “the filing of the verified complaint was made in accordance with paragraph 4, Section 3, Article 11 of the Constitution.”

Sotto then asked both the prosecution and defense panels to deliver their opening statements for 10 minutes each.

Enrile rejected the motion of Tupas that private prosecutor, Mario Bautista, deliver the opening statement of the prosecution because such responsibility rests on the public prosecutors from the House.

He also denied the urgent motion of lawyer Fernando P. Perito, a member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), to cite for indirect contempt all members of the House prosecution panel for divulging publicly their pieces of evidence against the Chief Justice because Perito has no legal standing before the Senate impeachment court.

He also noted the notice of withdrawal of lawyer Ernesto Francisco as counsel for Corona.

Enrile asked “everybody some degree of caution on the part of everyone in exposing evidence that ought to be presented in this impeachment court, not out in the public because the public is not under oath like witnesses that will be presented here.”

Corona, through counsel, had earlier asked the Senate to discipline Tupas and other members of the House prosecution panel for publicly exposing pieces of evidence relating to his supposed P14.5 million condominium at “The Fort” in Taguig City.

In his opening statement, Enrile said the people’s faith in the Senate, the image, and the very fabric of our nation and our democratic system are at stake. Let us take heed of the seriousness of this challenge and invoke the divine guidance of the Almighty God to enlighten our minds and guide our conscience in discharging faithfully our sacred duty.

Enrile also revealed the Senate’s commitment to “see this process all the way to its completion,” saying the outcome of the trial will have a serious impact on the country’s democratic system.

“As jurors, we will diligently examine the facts to determine sufficiently the charges and decide on the fate of Chief Justice Renato Corona,” Enrile said.

Evidence vs Corona

With the denial of Corona’s motion for a preliminary hearing to determine the legality of the impeachment complaint, the prosecution team formally laid down the list of evidence against the Chief Justice.

One of the serious misdeeds of Corona, Tupas cited, was his loyalty and close association to former President and now Pampanga Rep. Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from the time she became Vice President in 1998 until she became President in 2001. He said such loyalty has numerous rewards for Corona, including the payment of his wife’s back surgery, the plum positions in the John Hay Management Corporation, among others.

Corona, he said, was later appointed Supreme Court Associate Justice and later Chief Justice, a position which Tupas described as the best reward.

Tupas said Corona’s appointment as Chief Justice also served an immoral purpose – that of shielding Mrs. Arroyo from prosecution for her misdeeds during her presidency.

In Article 1 of the impeachment, Tupas said, the prosecution will show how Corona became the crowning glory of the cast of accomplices of former President Arroyo and how he protected GMA’s interest in exchange for his position of prestige and power.

In Article 2, he said, the will prove that Corona amassed ill-gotten wealth after he was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2002.

In Articles 3 and 5, Tupas said, the prosecution will show the lack of moral fitness of Corona when he committed acts of impropriety involving parties with pending cases in the SC.

In Article 4, Tupas said we will show how the Chief Justice intervened in the impeachment case against former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez also to protect Mrs. Arroyo.

Tupas said Corona’s mockery of the disciplinary institutions of the SC in the plagiarism charge against an SC Associate Justice will be proven in Article 6.

In Article 7, Corona’s biggest favor yet to his benefactor (GMA) culminated in the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) to enable the former President and her husband to leave the country and escape accountability.

Lastly in Article 8, Tupas said we will show how Corona failed to account for the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF) and the Special Allowance for the Judiciary (SAJ) funds, which are managed by the Chief Justice.

Regarding graft and corruption, Tupas said the governing principle of our laws is clear: Unexplained discrepancy between an official’s income and his assets, declared or undeclared, is a prima facie evidence of ill gotten wealth and, therefore, is an impeachable crime of graft and corruption. (With a report from Sarah H. Velasco)