The Philippine Online Chronicles

Widower Lauro Vizconde has decided to testify in the Senate impeachment trial against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona for his alleged “serious breach” of the court’s rule of confidentiality when they privately met in September 2010.

During the private meeting, Vizconde said Corona told him about the alleged efforts of Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio to urge other magistrates to vote for the acquittal of Hubert Webb in the Vizconde massacre case.

Webb was the primary suspect in the murder of Vizconde’s wife and two daughters in their Parañaque City home on 31 July 1991.

Vizconde earlier disclosed his meeting with Corona in February 2011. But Corona categorically denied that he leaked the information about Associate Justice Carpio to Vizconde.

“I really don’t want to testify because of utang na loob (debt of gratitude) because the Chief Justice had accommodated me in that meeting,” Vizconde said in an Inquirer.net report.

“But then I thought, one of the advocacies of the (Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption) is to seek  reforms in the justice system which is the bottom line of this trial. I cannot sacrifice the favor that the chief justice did for me in exchange for our advocacy.”

“This is my chance to tell my story under oath in a public forum, because the Supreme Court said I was lying after the news broke out,” he added.

Members of the prosecutors hailed Vizconde’s decision as good news, pointing out that Corona’s disclosure constituted a “serious breach of the rule of confidentiality” on cases pending in the high court.

Rep. Sherwin Tugna, a member of the House prosecution team, said they were informed of Vizconde’s decision on Monday afternoon.

“Mr. Vizconde stressed again and again that he would be doing this for a higher reason, that of judicial reform.  His concern is being perceived adversely,” Tugna said in an ambush interview.

In a separate report, Atty. Edre Olalia of the National Union of Lawyers of the Philippines (NUPL) said Corona’s private meeting with Vizconde constitutes a violation of the ethics and rules of court.

“There are particular provisions in the Code of Judicial Conduct stating that lawyers’ parties and the judges cannot talk outside what is termed as the open court,” Olalia said.