Open voting demanded : To identify senators who may overturn Davide on ‘Valhalla’

Private lawyers assisting the prosecution in the impeachment case against President Estrada demanded yesterday that the senators sitting as judges in the trial should reveal to the public their vote on the controversial Valhalla bank account.

This developed as former Defense Secretary Renato de Villa warned against a possible breakout of widespread public outrage if the senators overturn the ruling last Friday of Chief Justice Hilario Davide, allowing the opening of the records of the mysterious bank account believed held by the President using an assumed name.

Meanwhile, defense lawyers shrugged off rumors about a possible walkout by the prosecution panel if the senators overrule Davide’s decision on the Valhalla documents.

Lawyers Romeo Capulong, Ricardo Nepomuceno, Simeon Marcelo and Marie Yuvienco said the people have the right to know how each of the 21 senators attending the hearing cast their votes.

The impeachment trial at the Senate enters its second week today with the senators poised to vote on presiding officer Davide’s decision to allow the opening of a sealed envelope submitted by the Equitable-PCIBank to the tribunal.

The envelope contains bank records of a current account deposit believed held by Mr. Estrada using a fictitious name.

The 11-member prosecution team from the House of Representatives was still unsure if the signature on a check pertaining to the same account was "Jose Valhalla" or "Jose Velarde."

Mr. Estrada’s powerhouse defense panel headed by former Chief Justice Andres Narvasa and former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza gallantly but vainly tried to block the opening of the envelope, but Davide overruled their objections.

Mendoza and Narvasa insisted that the contents of the envelope were irrelevant and immaterial to the case.

However, pro-administration Sen. John Osmeña objected to Davide’s ruling, paving the way for the voting by the senator-judges.

The chairman’s decision is considered final if a majority of the senators present affirm it.

The defense panel indicated, however, that they would seek a reconsideration before the Supreme Court if the senators affirm the ruling.

Makati City Rep. Joker Arroyo, a key member of the prosecution team, told the tribunal that he was quite sure they could attain a conviction through the bank records.

He argued that Mr. Estrada was using the mysterious bank account to launder jueteng protection money as alleged by Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson, the prosecution panel’s star witness.

"They (people) have the right to demand that voting be done in open court before the eyes of the public and mass media, not in chamber or through any devious or secret manner of voting. This is a crucial vote at a crucial juncture of the impeachment trial," the private lawyers said in a statement.

They said the outcome of the voting may reveal the alignment of forces in the impeachment court.

The prosecutors are firmly convinced they could pin down Mr. Estrada on charges of graft and corruption and perjury, saying the P142-million check made out by the depositor to presidential friend Jose Luis Yulo ostensibly as payment for a mansion to be used by one of the President’s mistresses was part of his ill-gotten wealth.

The private prosecutors believed that the Valhalla (or Velarde) account could also open a "Pandora’s box" and reveal the extent of corruption and bribery committed by the President during his two and one-half years in power.

"This is assuming, of course, that the bank records are still intact and have not been altered or sanitized," the lawyers said.

They reminded the senators that in a democracy, sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.

They said the impeachment trial is merely a "legal mechanism, still uncharted and unproven in its efficacy in the country."

"Once the mechanism fails, as all indications show, the people will justifiably act through the direct exercise of its sovereign authority to oust a guilty and unfit President."

Various cause-oriented groups expressed serious concern that the delay in the opening and admission as evidence of the Valhalla account unnecessarily exposed it to possibilities of tampering with criminal intent.

"What’s happening now may not be a simple delaying tactic, but the start of a whitewash for Estrada’s acquittal," Bayan secretary general Teodoro Casiño said.

Fr. Jose Dizon of Kairos Philippines also demanded that the voting on the issue be made transparent to the public. "We want to know how each of the senator-judges will vote so that the people and history may judge them in turn."

Bayan and Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), in a statement, also assailed Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella for formally advising the Senate that the prosecution panel may not be allowed to hire private lawyers.

The two groups said Fuentebella’s move was "nothing less than a barefaced act of meddling in the impeachment trial and a clear sabotage of the work of the prosecution panel."

They warned that the Speaker’s move could be one of the various efforts by Malacañang and its allies to ensure a conviction for the President.

KMU and Bayan also expressed fears that Fuentebella may later move for the replacement of the prosecution panel members with less competent ones to weaken the prosecution.

The anti-Estrada organizations are scheduled to stage a protest rally today on Senate grounds to ask the senators for "an Erap-free Christmas and New Year."

Floats depicting Mr. Estrada’s alleged "seven deadly sins" will be paraded during the rally.

Party-list Rep. Loretta Ann Rosales said the move to ban private lawyers from active involvement in the prosecution of Mr. Estrada indicated a "classic example" of how technicality was being used to "obstruct the presentation of evidence and witnesses" against the President.

Rosales said today’s voting will show who among the senators "can rise above themselves and their interests in the pursuit of truth and justice."

"Should some senators overrule the decision, they can only succeed in reducing the entire exercise to a mock trial with judges incapable of rising above their parochial world. And should this happen, the possibility of the trial not pushing through becomes imminent," Rosales said.

She said talks about the prosecutors walking out of the courtroom have started circulating.

The lady lawmaker also warned that if the impeachment trial bogged down, a more anarchic situation could erupt, resulting in further worsening of the current political and economic crises.

De Villa warns vs public anger

"There could be widespread public outrage. People will start to vent their anger in the streets. This will heighten the already worse situation."

De Villa issued this warning even as he reminded the senators that the credibility of the impeachment trial could be undermined if they vote to junk Davide’s decision.

Asked how the united opposition will react if Davide is overruled, De Villa said "we would remain vigilant."

"A Senate majority that overrules Chief Justice Davide’s ruling will be disastrous to the credibility of the impeachment trial," he stressed.

Former Sen. Alberto Romulo called on the senators to conduct a credible, definitive and acceptable resolution of the current political crisis.

"The Chief Justice has ruled on a matter of law. The public would be very interested to know who among our senators would overrule and to understand their basis in doing so," Romulo said in a statement.

He said if the senators overturned Davide’s ruling, the people would already know the eventual result of the trial.

Meanwhile, defense lawyer Raul Daza accused the prosecution of cowardice and pressuring the court in making their threat to withdraw from the trial.

"I cannot see any violation to the impeachment rule, but walking out means walking out of their responsibility," Daza said.

Daza said they are mulling filing a motion for reconsideration of Davide’s ruling, but would wait for the result of the voting.

He noted that the articles of impeachment were weak and that the prosecution rushed the filing of the case. "Now they are paying the price for their haste."

Daza also challenged former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Perfecto Yasay Jr. to return to the Philippines and testify at the trial.

Yasay and his family reportedly fled to the United States due to death threats they received as an offshoot of the impeachment case.

The 11 private lawyers assisting the prosecution panel threatened to withdraw from the hearings in case the senators reverse Davide’s ruling.

Marcelo feared that they would not be able to gather and present evidence if they are denied access to the Valhalla documents. "They should give us access to evidence otherwise the whole process would be useless."

Casiño also said they would urge their lawyers to withdraw "if it becomes clear today that the trial will be fruitless and they see manipulation by the President’s allies in the Senate to get an acquittal for Mr. Estrada."

Lawyer Ricardo Nepomuceno Jr. said he and the 10 prosecutors will withdraw if they are denied justice when the senators prohibited the opening of the sealed envelopes submitted by Equitable-PCIBank.

Sen. Gregorio Honasan urged the prosecution panel not to overreact and respect the decision of the Senate majority on the Valhalla issue.

"The rule of the majority must prevail," Honasan told The STAR.

In another development, the People’s Consultative Assembly (PCA), an umbrella organization of cause-oriented groups, expressed suspicions that presidential allies were trying to manipulate the impeachment process.

The PCA was specifically referring to efforts to reverse Davide’s ruling on the Valhalla papers.

"The Estrada administration has repeatedly asked the people to follow the mandates of the Constitution and allow the impeachment trial to proceed. Now, it is they who are trying to block the proceedings. It is very evident that all they want to do is to stop the people’s action against Estrada via an impeachment (trial) that they can subvert through several senators allied with the President," said PCA secretary-general Linda Montayre. – With Christina Mendez, Paolo Romero, Perseus Echeminada