Several senators on Monday denied that the influential Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) approached them to lobby for the acquittal of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
In separate interviews, Senators Panfilo Lacson, Antonio Trillanes IV, and Gregorio Honasan belied former Senate President Ernesto Maceda's claim that the Iglesia ni Cristo is courting senators into voting against Corona's conviction.
Trillanes and Honasan likewise denied having any personal knowledge of any attempts.
Still, Honasan said that if Maceda had given such information, then they must look into it.
"Pag si former SP Maceda ang nagsalita, I guess we have to look deeper. I’m not implying anything... but if Sen. Maceda has information, then I guess we have to listen," he said.
Corona's camp had also earlier accused Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. of urging senator-judges not to honor the Supreme Court order stopping them from examining Corona's dollar accounts.
Jose Roy, one of the defense lawyers, even claimed that Malacañang had allotted P100 million for the "soft" projects of each senator-judge from the government's savings.
Ochoa and several senators have since denied the accusation.
Honasan said he doubts the senators would be influenced by Iglesia ni Cristo's command votes if ever the news were true.
The terms of Senators Trillanes, Honasan, Lacson, Edgardo Angara, Joker Arroyo, Alan Peter Cayetano, Francis Escudero, Loren Legarda, Francis Pangilinan, Koko Pimentel, and Manny Villar will expire in 2013.
But Angara, Joker, Lacson, Pangilinan, and Villar are already on their second terms so they can't seek re-election.
Only Escudero, Legarda, Pimentel, and Trillanes have declared that they will seek re-election in 2013. Cayetano and Honasan, meanwhile, have yet to make any announcement.
— Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ/KBK/HS, GMA News
source: gmanetwork.com
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Iglesia ni Cristo member denounce lobby reportMANILA — Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) votes as a herd in elections, but it never dips its fingers in politics, a member of the religious sect said yesterday.
Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, an INC follower, said he was “offended” and “outraged” by the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s report on Saturday that INC officials had been seeing senators to lobby for the acquittal of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona.
“Except to vote as one during elections in accordance with our fundamental beliefs, we do not intervene in politics, and it is offensive to say otherwise,” said Topacio, a lawyer for Jose Miguel Arroyo, husband of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Topacio said that while he was not authorized to speak for INC, “I believe I speak for most of the brethren who are outraged that the church was placed in a bad light on the basis of unsubstantiated rumors. We wished that the Inquirer would have left the church out of the disinformation and psychological warfare campaigns being waged in connection with the Corona impeachment trial.”
The Inquirer reported that INC officials Dan Orosa and Resty Lazaro had met discreetly with Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada during the month-long Lenten break of Congress to plead the case of Corona, whom INC followers supported.
A legislative source told the Inquirer that two other associates—Manny Cuevas and Victor Cheng—had been requesting to meet with other senators in recent days to lobby them for Corona’s acquittal. /INQUIRER
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Iglesia ni Cristo lobby doubtedIt’s a suprise. It’s not surprising. A trick. Anyway, we are not bothered. So, ignore it. But whatever neither-here-nor-there reactions to the reported high-powered Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) lobby in the Senate to acquit Chief Justice Renato Corona, one thing is clear: The reactors do not want to be on the wrong side of the politically influential INC.
Malacañang wouldn’t be surprised if certain people affiliated with the INC would lobby for the acquittal of Corona.
But a senior adviser to President Benigno Aquino III doubts that the lobbying would have the approval of the religious group’s leadership.
Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, a political adviser to the President, said the administration expected Corona to use every political tool available—even collect on past political debts—to influence senators as his impeachment trial neared its end.
“The impeachment trial is essentially a political process that is being played out in a highly charged political context,” Abad, a member of the President’s Liberal Party, said in a text message to the Inquirer.
“We expect CJ Rene Corona to be using all available political levers, even calling upon political debts, to try to influence the senators,” Abad said.
Asked if the administration had information of INC leaders trying to influence senators into pushing for Corona’s acquittal, Abad said, “Because it is common knowledge that the INC in the past has wielded its political clout in the arena of politics, that development will not be surprising.”
He went on: “But it was only until the [Philippine Daily Inquirer] came out with the report that we came to know, particularly of the alleged attempts by certain INC personalities to influence the senators. And even if that were true we also are not sure if those moves are in fact sanctioned by the INC hierarchy.”
Just a trickPresidential adviser on political affairs Ronald Llamas said the lobbying was just a trick to pressure the senators into acquitting Corona.
But Llamas said the senators would not allow themselves to be pressured. And the government does not believe the INC would “allow itself to be used for political purposes,” Llamas said in a text message.
A legislative source told the Inquirer that INC officials Dan Orosa and Resty Lazaro approached senators during the Lenten break of Congress.
Manny Cuevas and Victor Cheng have also been mentioned as continuing the lobby when the impeachment trial resumed in early May. Manny Cuevas was earlier erroneously identified as the brother of Corona’s lead defense counsel, Serafin Cuevas, who is an Iglesia member.
Not botheredAbad said he was not bothered by the supposed Iglesia lobby. He said he was confident that the senators would see the overwhelming evidence against the Chief Justice and vote to convict him.
“Remember, the overwhelming message in the 2010 elections that catapulted the Aquino administration to power was stop corruption and hold those who committed graft and corruption with impunity accountable to the people,” Abad said.
“The evidence so far gathered by the prosecution under Article 2 are enough, in my view, to convict Corona,” Abad said. “But the startling revelations of Ombudsman [Conchita] Carpio Morales on Corona’s dollar transactions based on [Anti-Money Laundering Council] documents have sealed Corona’s fate,” he added.
Article 2 of the House’s impeachment complaint against Corona involves his failure to disclose his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth.
Morales, summoned by the impeachment court as a hostile witness on the request of the defense, last week presented AMLC documents detailing movements in multimillion-dollar deposits in 82 bank accounts allegedly owned by Corona.
“With the intolerant attitude being displayed by our people against corruption and the overwhelming evidence now before the Senate, I don’t see how the senators can ignore these,” Abad said.
Clarify issuesDeputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said Malacañang expected the senators to shed light on the reported Iglesia lobbying.
In an interview over state-run radio station dzRB, Valte said senators usually use breaks during the impeachment trial to clarify certain issues.
“Let’s see when the trial resumes on Tuesday if the senators will take the time to answer this particular item,” Valte.
Some of the senators would not wait until then to speak. They began talking on Friday, saying no lobbying by any group could sway them to vote for or against Corona.
Senators Aquilino Pimentel III, Vicente Sotto III, Gregorio Honasan II, Panfilo Lacson, Loren Legarda, Franklin Drilon, Francis Pangilinan and Ralph Recto said they had not been approached by Iglesia ni Cristo. Some of them doubted the INC would “stoop so low.”
“Any lobbying is useless,” Pimentel told the Inquirer by phone. “I’m very vocal and publicly stated that I will decide on evidence. Lobbying can’t change evidence. They have to refute evidence by better evidence.”
Lacson agreed: “Even if true, I trust that a great majority of senator-judges will be guided by what the prosecution and the defense panels have presented and will present, and how we will appreciate those pieces of evidence.”
More than the lobbying by groups, Corona’s forthrightness on assets that he did not declare in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth would help his cause, Drilon said.
UNA targetedThe Iglesia lobby reportedly targeted members of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) of Vice President Jejomar Binay and former President Joseph Estrada.
The legislative source claimed that the INC’s Orosa and Lazaro met with Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile in Cagayan, and Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada in Manila. Enrile declined to be interviewed. Senator Estrada said he had not been approached.
Sotto, the Senate majority leader said it wasn’t surprising for any group from both sides to approach senators, as the impeachment trial is political.
“Whether true or not, whether Malacañang is also talking to prosecutors or senators or not, it’s all part of the political character of the impeachment,” Sotto said by phone. “You can’t prevent groups or persons from lobbying,” he said.
“For all you know, their name (INC) is only being used,” Sotto added.
Honasan said the reports of lobbying were “unfair” to both the INC and the senators, and distract from the trial.
“I think it’s a form of disrespect to the Iglesia and the senator-judges,” Honasan said by phone. “We must presume good faith in everyone. There were insinuations like this before about the attempts by Malacañang to influence judges by offering development projects.”
Ignore itHonasan said the reports should be ignored because they “destroy concentration and detract from what should be the focus: the continued search for truth and justice.”
All the senators sought for comment by the Inquirer said they had not been approached by the INC.
“I have not been approached,” Lacson said in a text message. “I don’t think the INC leadership will stoop down and hit the gutter in an impeachment trial where moral fitness in such an exalted position in government is on trial.”
Sotto admitted talking with an INC official a few months ago but on the reproductive health bill.
And neither were Honasan, Drilon, Pangilinan, Recto and Legarda approached about Corona’s case.
“I have not been approached by the INC or the Palace to influence my vote in the trial,” Honasan said. “I don’t think the senator-judges should give this too much attention. We’re looking forward to the appearance of the Chief Justice.”
Corona will testify in his own defense on Tuesday.
Pangilinan said this could be “all speculation” and declined further comment.
Recto said he was “surprised” by the reports.
Drilon said: “I can state for a fact I was not approached.”
Pangilinan, Recto and Drilon are members the Liberal Party.
Legarda said she would rather “assess” the evidence and wait for Corona’s testimony on Tuesday.
House Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III, spokesperson of the prosecution panel, also doubted the INC would try to influence the verdict in Corona’s trial.
“I don’t think the INC will do that,” Tañada said by phone. “It will be unfair to the senator-judges. The senator-judges would want to base their decision on the evidence presented,” he said.
Tañada said he thought the INC was just an “observer like everyone else.” He said he believed the INC would look at the evidence presented and would base its stance on these.
With reports from TJ Burgonio and Leila B. Salaverrisource: inquirer.net
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Bakit desperadong ikinakabit ang Iglesia ni Cristo kay Corona (Prelude ba ito?)SA simula pa lamang ng impeachment trial kay SC Chief Justice Renato Corona, pumutok na ang ‘tsismis’ na nags0-SHOW OF FORCE raw ang kapatiran ng Iglesia ni Cristo (INC).
Ikinabakabit pa nga ito kay dating Justice Secretary Serafin Cuevas, na ngayon ay defense team chief ni Corona.
Maging ang malalaking BIBLE EXPOSITION ng INC ay pinagdudahang pagpapakita raw ng suporta kay Corona.
Noong araw, may kasabihan (pasintabi po) … “ang duling daw walang gawang magaling …”
Pero ngayon mas paniwalaan natin kapag sinabing … “ang PRANING wala lalong gagawin magaling …”
Jokingkly aside dear readers, ngayon natin napagtatanto na ang mga kapraningan na ‘yan ay tila PRELUDE sa nalalapit na pagwawakas ng impeachment trial.
Bakit natin nasasabi ito?
Aba naman, lumabas dalawang araw magkasunod sa isang ‘mahabang’ d’yaryo ang istorya hinggil sa ‘LOBBYING’ o GAPANGAN umano ng INC sa ilang senator judges kaugnay ng magiging VERDICT kay Corona.
Ang ATRIBUSYON ng nasabing istorya ay isang ‘CONGRESSIONAL SOURCE’ kuno na ayaw ipabanggit ang pangalan dahil “lack of authority to speak on the matter.”
Pwede bang ang salin n’yan sa Filipino ay KULANG-KULANG sa kapangyarihan?! Hak hak hak!
Simple lang ang tanong natin, bakit ba laging ikinakabit ang INC d’yan sa impeach trial na ‘yan?!
Llamado na kayo, hindi na kailangan gumawa pa ng ganyan istorya!
Lahat na lang ng ginagawang pagtitipon ng INC ay ikinakabait sa impeachment ni Corona.
Buti na lang hindi nila ikinonek ang INC sports unity event d’yan sa Impeachment!?
‘E bakit ‘yung mga pagtitipon ng El Shaddai, Jesus is Lord at ng CBCP, hindi nila napagdidiskatahan?
Napaghahalata tuloy na ang administrasyon na ito ay mainit sa INC … dahil ba sa Corona issue?
Inuulit lang po natin, huwag magpakapraning sa Corona impeachment!
Ay sus!
source: hatawtabloid.com