Palace expects CJ to reveal the whole truth

The palace is expecting Chief Justice Renato Corona to reveal the whole truth behind the alleged ill-gotten assets as soon as he steps foot on the Senate grounds for the impeachment trial next week.

According to Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, they are expecting the CJ to disclose everything about his supposed $10-million account.

Valte refused to consider whether Chief Justice's statement would be the recognizable game-changer in the impeachment trial, that began on January 16.

The defense team led by former justice Serafin Cuevas finally agreed to allow their client to give his testimony.

Valte said that it was too early to judge whether his testimony would be substantial or a waste of time. They should just wait for his testimony, and what will be his answers to questions regarding the dollar accounts.

Corona's decision in taking the witness stand, aiming to prove he does not have $10 million dollar account is however welcomed by the Palace.

Lacierda said, "The truth will come out, one way or the other. We have always maintained that the only person who can testify to the truthfulness of the SALN (statement of assets, liabilities and net worth), to the truthfulness of all his assets, would be the Chief Justice," he said. "And so by coming forth, he will be able to shed light on what he truly has in his possession – the assets, meaning, the cash, foreign currency deposits, as well as the real properties."

He added that their choice is something that everybody is looking forward to even the senator-judges, even all of them, even the media is also looking forward to it. So as to what the substance of the testimony is, it will always be subject to cross-examination.

The presidential spokesman said that the decision to decide whether to keep on enduring by a Supreme Court order requiring the privacy of such accounts is up to the senator-judges. — ARA