Corona Trial Seen Over By March 23
MANILA, Philippines - The Senate impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona will most likely be finished by March 23, lead prosecutor Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. said yesterday.
“We hope to finish the trial before our Holy Week adjournment. By then, we also hope that the Senate would have already made a decision,” he said in a television interview.
The Senate and the House of Representatives will go on a five-week Lenten break starting in the third week of March. They are supposed to hold sessions until March 23, which is a Friday, but the Senate does not meet on Fridays and is conducting impeachment trials only from Monday to Thursday. The House, on the other hand, convenes only from Monday to Wednesday.
Tupas said the prosecution is aiming to rest its case “within a reasonable period of time” so that Corona’s lawyers could present their defense.
“To expedite the trial, we will trim down our list of witnesses, but a lot will really depend on the defense team. If they object to documents that they subsequently adopt as part of their evidence like the SALN (statement of assets, liabilities and net worth) of the Chief Justice, and if they resort to technicalities, that will greatly delay the proceedings,” he said.
Source: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=774824&publicationSubCategoryId=63
