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House ‘violated own rules’ after hiring private prosecutors

By Virgil B. Lopez
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
THE House of Representatives violated its own rules when it acquired the services of a private lawyer for the upcoming impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, said a retired justice.
The House hired Mario Bautista, the lawyer of bank executive Clarissa Ocampo, a key witness against former President Joseph Estrada in his impeachment trial in 2000.
But retired Supreme Court justice Serafin Cuevas, who defended Estrada in the same trial, said Rule VI, Section 15 of the House rules of procedure in impeachment proceedings only allowed members of the House as prosecutors.
“The House of Representatives shall act as the sole prosecutor at the trial in the Senate through a committee of 11 members, thereof, to be elected by a majority vote,” the rule said.
Corona’s impeachment case is expected to be heard by senator-judges beginning January 16 but the chief magistrate had asked the Senate to resolve first his motion to verify the signatures of 188 lawmakers who voted for his ouster last December 12.
He also asked for a pre-trial that will determine how many witnesses will be summoned and what documents will be presented by both the prosecution and defense panels.
Bautista, as said earlier by prosecution chair Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas, will oversee the legal strategy especially of the nine legal teams composed of volunteer lawyers who will assist the 11-man prosecution panel in handling the eight articles of impeachment.
“They said they are prepared, that they are good. Why the need to hire private prosecutors?” Cuevas asked in a television interview.
For his part, fellow defense lawyer Dennis Manalo said the rules of criminal procedure only allow the designation of a private prosecutor if the workload of the fiscal is already too much and that a private interest is involved.
“In this particular case, who is the private party that has been damaged? There is nobody so what is a private prosecutor doing?” he said.
Cuevas said the hiring of private prosecutors during the impeachment trial of Estrada should not be used as reason to do the same.
“They are citing that (Estrada impeachment) as jurisprudence of precedent. How can that be when that was not terminated? That was not finished,” Cuevas said.
Estrada’s trial was aborted in 2001 when private prosecutors walked out of the impeach proceedings, leading to the Edsa People Power 2 Revolution that toppled Estrada and installed then Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the presidency.
Malacañang came to the House’s defense, with Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Ronald Llamas calling Cuevas’ assertion as “incorrect”.
Citing Rule XIII of the impeachment rules adopted by the Senate, Llamas said the “counsel for the prosecutors shall be under the control of and supervision of the panel of prosecutors of the House.”
“This clearly indicates that the House panel is specifically empowered to retain separate, private counsel who may be admitted to appear before the impeachment court,” he told Sun.Star.
Llamas said Corona’s camp is just running out of arguments that would merit the dismissal of the impeachment complaint.
“They are actually quite worried that Corona will swiftly be convicted due to the strength of case against him. This may also be an indicator of how they plan to approach the trial; by bringing up weakly grounded and tangential technical issues instead of confronting the charges head on,” he said.
Corona is accused of committing high crimes such as graft and corruption, culpable violation of the Constitution, and betrayal of public trust.
He has since denied wrongdoing as he saw the ouster plot as a way for President Benigno Aquino III in building a dictatorship. (Sunnex)

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2012/01/04/house-violated-own-rules-after-hiring-private-prosecutors-198795

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