Update: Senate decided not to detain Aguirre
The Miriam Santiago-Vitaliano Aguirre fight was a fitting scene to end the prosecution’s presentation. Defense will start its presentation of witnesses on March 12.
Presiding Judge Juan Ponce-Enrile said they will discuss Tuesday next week the punishment that they would impose on Aguirre, one of the prosecution’s private lawyers, after he was cited for contempt for covering his ears while Santiago was berating the prosecution.
Proposed punishment fro Aquirre:
Sotto, the majority leader, later told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the senators would take up the penalty to be imposed on Aguirre in a caucus on Tuesday.
“I don’t know if this is serious or not but it is being suggested by Senators Francis Escudero and Panfilo Lacson that we place attorney Aguirre in a room in front of a television set playing the videotape of one of Miriam’s privilege speeches.”
Philippine Daily Inquirer
An irate Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago covers her ears during a tumultuous moment in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona on Wednesday after private prosecutor Vitaliano Aguirre III was caught on camera covering his ears as Santiago was berating the prosecution panel. Aguirre, who said his ears “were hurting,” was later cited in contempt for disrespect of a senator-judge.
Private prosecutor Vitaliano Aguirre had had enough of Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago and had the guts to stand up to her.
Aquino said he won’t lose sleep if Wynn, whose intra-corporate fight with his partner, Kazuo Okada, exposed the bribes showered by the latter to officials of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation including the current chair, Cristino Naguiat, Jr., does not invest in the Philippines because there’s a long list of foreign investors interested to come.
Aquino preferred to play blind to the issue of unabated corruption raised in the investigation report made by former Federal Bureau of Investigation Louis Freeh commissioned by Wynn Resorts such as, despite his anti-corruption agenda, “Official corruption in the Philippine gaming industry is ‘deeply ingrained.’
Click here for Wynn’ suit vs Okada
Of course, Aquino later asked Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. to investigate allegations of breathtaking gifts showered by Okada, whose Universal Entertainment Corp is building a casino at the reclaimed Manila Bay area, to Naguiat whom Aquino has appointed chairman ang chief operating officer of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.
PAGCOR regulates and operates casinos in the country.
By Bibeth Orteza
Philippine Daily Inquirer
8:15 a. m.
The man of the house is still in his bedroom. Sally Moneda, his cook and personal assistant of 26 years, reminds his close-in aide, Julius Gumban, not to take away the newspaper as “he has not read Bernas [constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas, SJ, who writes an opinion column in the Inquirer–Ed].”
Photos by Mario Ignacio, VERA Files
Nandiyan si retired Capt. Oscar Taleon, ang presidente at Chief Executive Officer ng Alyansa ng may Kapansanang Pinoy (AKAP-Pinoy), na nabulag noong panahon ng martial law (1977) nang napasabak siya sa rally sa underpass sa Quiapo kung saan may nagbuhos ng gasolina na lumiyab. Nasa Intelligence Service siya ng Armed Forces of the Philippines noon.
Sitting as the presiding judge in the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, Enrile’s competent handling of one of the biggest legal events in the country assures the public that whatever the decision of the senator-judges, whether Corona would be acquitted or convicted, Philippine democracy would be enriched.
Enrile was very much part of the two-decade Marcos regime in various capacities in the department of justice,finance, and defense.
The fact that retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan has not been arrested two months after the Malolos Regional Trial Court issued a warrant of arrest for him for the 2006 disappearance of UP students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno and farmer Manuel Merino should have made us realize that there are forces in the government who have remained unenlightened despite President Aquino’s much-vaunted reform agenda.
There’s also the disappointing lack of action by the Aquino administration on the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance which has been signed by 92 countries , 31 of which have ratified the Convention.
The Aquino government also never replied to the annual requests by the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances for official invitation to visit the country.
Kapag impeachment ni Chief Justice Renato Corona ang pinaguusapan, ang tanong ng karamihan ay, “Maku-convict ba si Corona?”
Inip na sa ending ang mga tao.
Sa aming baryo sa Guisijan sa Antique, marami ang sumusunod ng Corona impeachment trial.Sa mga nakita nilang lumabas na mga impormasyun sa trial, naniniwala silang guilty si Corona.Kaya kahit medyo palpak and prosecution, umu-ubra din ang kanilang stratehiya na lumilihis sa proseso.
Ngunit alam din ng taumbayan na malaki ang papel ng pulitika sa pinal na desisyun kaya medyo nag-alala sila.
Just when we were getting excited by another set of accounts by Chief Justice Renato Corona with the Philippine Savings Bank, Katipunan branch, totaling some P36 million which were withdrawn on Dec. 12, 2012, the day the House of Representatives approved the impeachment of the Chief Justice, bank manager Annabel Tiongson, dropped another information that brought us back to the fascinating tale of the “small lady” that has regaled us the past days.
Nineteen days of impeachment trial have revealed that Corona has not been truthful in the declaration of his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth.
Corona stated in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) for 2010 that he had only P3.5 million in cash and investments. Yet his five peso accounts at the Philippine Savings Bank showed he had P19,728,555.39 while his checking account at the Bank of the Philippines Island, Ayala branch contained P12,024,000.67 or a total of about P32 million as of Dec. 31, 2010.