Office of Rep. Edcel C. Lagman

Independent, 1^st District of Albay

28 January 2012

0916-6406737 / 0918-9120137

             The House of Representatives prosecution panel’s expanded fishing expedition to include Justices of the Supreme Court as witnesses in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona will inordinately wreck the High Court.

             Calling the Justices as witnesses will make them testify not only for or against the Chief Justice but also against each other.

             It would also pierce and violate the time-honored confidentiality of the deliberation of the Justices in the disposition  of cases.

              Moreover, the collective decisions of the Supreme Court will be shredded to pieces as the fishing expedition navigates in to the high seas of the Supreme Court.

              The best evidence of the adjudication and voting of the Justices are the decisions themselves and the dissents, if any, wherein individual Justices voted for or against the collective ruling of the majority.

             No parol or testimonial evidence is admissible and competent against the best evidence rule on the disquisitions and rulings as contained in the sole written documents, which are the ponencia or decisions and the dissenting opinions.

             Now, truly, it is not only the Chief Justice who is on trial but the entire Supreme Court even as the testimonies of the Justices can be used against them in the threatened impeachment cases involving other Justices.