On a scale of 10, I will give the prosecution closing arguments
9 and the defense 5. The prosecutors delivered their pieces with clarity and
directness to the point that the public and senator judges understand
kaya nga sumakit ang ulo at umalis c Santiago because she probably foresaw the
collapse of the defense that she supports. From the closing clarificatory
questions of Enrile to the lead defense, you can already see the direction the senator judges will go: 1) What do you think is the dire consequence if any public official declares their dollar account in the SALN? The foreign account bank
secrecy law does not prevent any individual from divulging their money in the
bank, and 2) Enrile cited the constitution, where every public official is
commanded by law to submit their SALN upon entering public service meaning all an
everything without exception (…and I can read Enrile’s mind to include foreign
currency deposits).
I am trying to be
objective of the CJ’s undeclared wealth but I find it simply unbelievable If
he has 100k dollars in multiple dollar accounts; I will give him the benefit
of the doubt but 2.4 million (103,200,000 pesos) and how about the more than
3 million dollars he withdrew in 2007 elections that Lacson computed to be
more than 147 million pesos. Would you believe that the 90 million pesos in
his accounts are co-owned by his family? Remember that none of his multiple
peso accounts are joint accounts, meaning he should have maintained a joint account with each member of the family who co-owned some of the money, so he would know how much belongs to whom. It is all in his name, which I found
really weird if he doesn’t own them. The dollar accounts will get him
convicted, if only to send a message to corrupt officials that dollar accounts will not protect them from prosecution/conviction, the chief justice being a
glaring example. If the senator judges don’t convict him, they will likewise set a precedent, sending a wrong signal to the corrupt and corruptors to keep ill-gotten wealth in dollar accounts. We will know how the senator judges think
by the end of the day on Monday.
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(I wrote the above as a thread to another post last night. If you have
watched the closing argument of Farinias; you will see the parallel synchronicity
of our arguments.)
Nice, doctor.
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