inside Philippine politics and beyond
My exclusive By Raïssa Robles Four and not just three senator-judges were sworn into office by no less than Chief Justice Renato Corona, the very man they recently swore to convict or acquit in a fair impeachment trial. [UPDATE: Senator-judge Juan Ponce Enrile, presiding officer of the Impeachment Court, also took his oath of office before CJ Corona. That makes [...]
Sorry for not updating. I did have materials – in fact several pieces I wanted to write. But I met an accident while out on an interview and I had to go the rounds of an x-ray, an orthopaedic surgeon to rule out fracture, and had to lie in bed with my leg propped up, first with ice and then [...]
By Raïssa Robles Supreme Court Justice Serafin Cuevas played a key role in a coup attempt against then President Corazon Aquino shortly after being ejected from the Marcos-appointed Supreme Court in the wake of the 1986 Edsa People Power uprising, . [UPDATE, March1: Former Supreme Court Justice Serafine Cuevas admitted today that he once lawyered for Senate President Juan Ponce [...]
Think about it By Raïssa Robles On the anniversary of Edsa people power, one commenter using the handle karaniwang tao wrote on my blog this sad lament on our nation: kudos to your well researched and deep opinionated reports… but im confused…… from time of prez aguinaldo to present day P-noy….. they “look like” the same….. so who will lead [...]
My Exclusive By Raïssa Robles Two Associate Justices of the Supreme Court and noted constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas are among the witnesses named by the defense lawyers to testify in behalf of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona. Defense lawyers Jose M. Roy III and Dennis P. Manalo named Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco as the main witness who will counter the [...]
My exclusive By Raïssa Robles Retired Associate Justice Serafin Cuevas is probably one of the best defense lawyers in the country. However, he doesn’t seem to do as well during cross-examination. At least twice, Cuevas has stumbled during cross-examination. He enabled tax chief Kim Henares to enter even more damaging evidence against his client, Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona. [...]
Think about it By Raïssa Robles In the course of my investigations I gather bits and pieces of information which can’t be developed into long stories but can be used to form a pattern of analysis and lead to informed speculation. When I say “informed”, I mean informed as a journalist who has been in the news business for several [...]
Read banker Clarissa Ocampo’s testimony By Raïssa Robles It was Clarissa Ocampo’s alluring perfume that prompted President Joseph Estrada to see her in person. “Sobrang bango niya,” a presidential bodyguard told Estrada. This was what a senior banker recently told me, in turn quoting an eyewitness of that fateful event on the night of February 4, 2000. Estrada’s encounter with [...]
A commentary By Raïssa Robles Everyone assumes that all the US dollars that Chief Justice Renato Corona stashed in banks are covered by the bank secrecy law. Let me offer the theory that they might not be ALL covered and the Senate impeachment court can legally look into them. Yes, I know I am a mere reporter with no formal [...]
Expresses support for my work Because the name of South China Morning Post (HK), the newspaper I write for, was being dragged as well into the messy political battle, I had to inform my immediate editor at the Foreign Desk, Andrew London, of this fact. This was after The Daily Tribune owner-publisher Ninez Cacho-Olivares wrote that based on her “a impeachable [...]
By Raïssa Robles Friday I phoned Ninez Cacho-Olivares of The Daily Tribune to ask how I was supposed to have obtained the bank documents of Chief Justice Renato Corona from a certain Gigi Sawit and handed these personally to Congressman Rey Umali. I had never met them both, I told her. I could hear the surprise in her voice [...]
By Raïssa Robles Yesterday I was surprised when one of my sources told me there was word going around that I was the “Little Lady” who had leaked the bank documents of Chief Justice Corona to a House prosecutor. I realized then I had just become part of the story. By the way, for the record, I am NOT the [...]
By Raïssa Robles In January 2001, Joker Arroyo took the lead in asking the Senate impeachment court to subpoena Cathy Weir, then president of Citibank N.A., in order to produce records on then President Joseph Estrada’s dollar deposits. Arroyo was then a House senior prosecutor in Estrada’s impeachment trial. A grateful nation subsequently voted Joker Arroyo to the Senate [...]
My Exclusive By Raïssa Robles Almost a year ago, the Supreme Court led by Renato Corona affirmed the conviction and jail sentence of Rosalio Galeos for making “false” and “incomplete” declarations in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) for four successive years. Galeos’ case and that of his co-accused, former Naga, Cebu mayor Paulino Ong, are [...]
By Raïssa Robles Chief Justice Renato Corona’s lawyers would like the public to believe that the under declarations and omissions in his SALNs (Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth) are all “not intentional”. What the lawyers aren’t saying is that CJ Corona was a tax and corporate lawyer who once worked for two banks and for SGV & [...]
My exclusive By Raïssa Robles When Renato Corona was nominated for a vacant seat in the Supreme Court back in 2001, an uncle of his wife Cristina personally wrote the Judicial Bar Council (JBC) to oppose his nomination in order “to save the SC from discredit and disrepute.” Jose Maria Basa III warned that Corona “will not be capable [...]
By Raïssa Robles This Year 2012, or the Year of the Black Water Dragon, one Chinese horoscope predicts that “something unexpected will happen.” That’s putting it mildly if applied to rapidly unfolding political events in the country. Long before the dragon sets foot on the celestial plain this February 4, two events have already occurred that would affect the [...]
January 28, 2012 To the prosecution panel The House of Representatives Dear Sirs: I am wondering why a press release from Congress says I am one of those to be subpoenaed to be asked in the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona. According to the press release, I am being summoned to testify on Article 7, of [...]
In the interest of fairness and justice, I would like to share with you this very fascinating glimpse of the man who is now at the center of a political firestorm – Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona. The excellently written sketch was written by Maria Rosa “Bing” Nieva Carrion, a former schoolmate of CJ Corona’s wife, Cristina. At the [...]
My exclusive By Raïssa Robles Chief Justice Renato Corona was required by the SALN law to disclose starting 2003 that his wife sat on the board of a state-owned corporation, former Civil Service Commission chair Karina David told me in an interview. David was chair of the Civil Service Commission when Cristina Corona first joined the board of John [...]