The Philippine Online Chronicles

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The lawyers of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona accused Malacanang on Sunday of offering senators-judges P100 million to defy a Supreme Court (SC) order.

“Yesterday, we received very reliable information that Executive Secretary Paquito ‘Jojo’ Ochoa, acting in behalf of President Benigno Aquino III, was personally contacting and phoning senator-judges to persuade or pressure them to defy a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court in favor of Philippine Savings Bank,” defense lawyer Dennis Manalo said in an Inquirer article.

The SC on Thursday voted 8-5 in favor of issuing a TRO on the impeachment court's subpoena ordering PSBank to present documents with regard to Corona's dollar account. The Senate is scheduled on Monday to decide whether or not the impeachment court will submit to the TRO.

GMA News also reported that Jose Roy, another member of the defense team, said that their source revealed that the Palace “is allotting P100 million per senator-judge from the government's savings,” which can be used for projects not involving infrastructure.

“We condemn in the strongest terms the efforts of the President to undermine the constitutional process that he himself initiated,” said Manalo.

Reacting to the allegations, Ochoa said that is was a “desperate gimmick” by Corona's lawyers.

"I deny the unsubstantiated, unattributed allegations by the Defense Team of Chief Justice Renato C. Corona that I have been calling members of the Philippine Senate to convince them to defy the TRO the Supreme Court has issued with regard to allowing access to the dollar accounts of the Chief Justice," he said in a statement published in GMA News.

Lead prosecutor Neil Tupas Jr. meanwhile said in a Rappler article that the Chief Justice “is trying to demonize the Executive, and blackmail the Senate to vote in their favor as part of the mind conditioning strategy."
"The allegation of respondent CJ Corona against the (Executive Secretary) is very irresponsible because he cannot name his source," he added.

The defense panel did not reveal the identity of their source but clarified that the information did not come from any senator.

In a Philippine Star article, Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada challenged the defense team to identify the senators who were allegedly offered P100 million by Ochoa.

“I was not one of them. They are putting the credibility and integrity of the Senate at stake,” Estrada added.

The article also reported that Senator Panfilo Lacson denied the defense's allegation saying it was “pure rubbish and nothing more.”

Aquino to be impeached?

Meanwhile, the Inquirer on Monday reported that the House minority bloc will decide this week whether or not they will pursue an impeachment case against Aquino for the undervalued sale of a government lot in Baguio City.

Last week, ABS-CBN News reported that Philippine Association of Revenue Informers Inc. president Danilo Lihaylihay asked the minority bloc to initiate impeachment proceedings against Aquino for “culpable violation of the Constitution, high crimes, and betrayal of public trust for the alleged anomalous sale of the 3.4-hectare government property known as 'Governor's Park' along Session Road, Baguio City in September.”

The questioned lot, which was sold to SM Investments Corporation (SMIC) for P500 million, recently hit the headlines following protests against the mall's renovation plans that will affect more than 100 hundred trees.

In his complaint-affidavit sent to House minority leader Danilo Suarez, Lihaylihay alleged that the sale was disadvantageous to the government because the lot's total value for 2011 was already P1.9 billion.

Suarez said that the opposition will have to decide whether the case could be a ground for impeaching the president.

House Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte however predicted the “instant death” of the impeachment case if the minority decides to pursue it.

“This will not fly because it is baseless and unfounded. The President has nothing to do with the transaction. The story was not true. The auction and award were done in 1992 and the full payment was in 1997. The documentation was completed in 2011,” Belmonte said in a Journal Online article.