Dear mouse,
It is not only the law students who are interested to understand what’s going on in the impeachhment trial of Supreme Court Justice Renato C. Corona. Even the high school students are encouraged by their teachers to watch the trial. In the Senate, the Presiding Officer, the senator-judges, the prosecutors and the defense team use terminologies that ordinary people do not understand. So let us have their definitions or meanings.
Before we go to the terms, let us meet the people that conduct the trial.
Senator Juan Ponce Enrile- Presiding Officer
Senator Sotto- The Majority Leader of the Senate
Ret. Justice Serafin Cuevas- Lead Lawyer of the Defense Team
Cong. Niel Tupas- Leader of the Prosecution Panel
Here is the glossary of terms as provided in the government website.
1. Betrayal of Public Trust
- … The term ‘betrayal of public trust’ as explained by Commissioner Romulo, is a catch-all phrase to include all acts which are not punishable by statutes as penal offenses, but nonetheless, render the officer unfit to continue in office. It includes betrayal of public interest, inexcusable negligence of duty, tyrannical abuse of power, breach of official duty by malfeasance or misfeasance, cronyism, favoritism, etc., to the prejudice of public interest and which tend to bring the office in to dispute.”
(Record of the Constitutional Commission, Proceedings and Debates, 272)
2. Judiciary Development Fund
Created by Presidential Decree No. 1949; a fund sourced from legal fees to augment the allowances of the members and personnel of the Judiciary and to finance the acquisition, maintenance, and repair of office equipment and facilities.
3. Malversation of Public Funds
According to RA 1060: Malversation of public funds or property. — Presumption of malversation. — Any public officer who, by reason of the duties of his office, is accountable for public funds or property, shall appropriate the same, or shall take or misappropriate shall consent, or through abandonment or negligence, shall permit any other person to take such public funds or property, wholly or partially, or shall otherwise be guilty of the misappropriation or malversation of such funds or property.
4. Prima Facie Evidence
Evidence that would, if uncontested, establish a fact or raise a presumption of a fact.
Prima facie is Latin for “on its face.”
5. Res Judicata
Latin for “the thing has been decided” and pertains to the principle that a final judgment of a competent court is conclusive upon the parties in any subsequent litigation involving the same cause of action.
6. SALN
Statement of Assets and Liabilities. Every public officer, after assuming office, and within the month of January of every other year thereafter, as well as upon the expiration of his term of office, or upon his resignation or separation from office, shall prepare and file with the office of the corresponding Department Head, or in the case of a Head of Department or chief of an independent office, with the Office of the President, or in the case of members of the Congress and the officials and employees thereof, with the Office of the Secretary of the corresponding House, a true detailed and sworn statement of assets and liabilities, including a statement of the amounts and sources of his income, the amounts of his personal and family expenses and the amount of income taxes paid for the next preceding calendar year: Provided, That public officers assuming office less than two months before the end of the calendar year, may file their statements in the following months of January.
7. Fair Market Value – Fair market value (FMV) is an estimate of the market value of a property, based on what a knowledgeable, willing, and unpressured buyer would probably pay to a knowledgeable, willing, and unpressured seller in the market.(wiki)
8. Assessed value-The value of an asset assigned by a public tax assessor for the purposes of taxation.
9. Zonal value -is the basis for computing the fair market cakue of the property and the computation of the internal revenue taxes. (source)
10. Evidence-in its broadest sense includes everything that is used to determine or demonstrate the truth of an assertion. Giving or procuring evidence is the process of using those things that are either (a) presumed to be true, or (b) were themselves proven via evidence, to demonstrate an assertion’s truth.
11. Exhibit – in a criminal prosecution or a civil trial, is physical or documentary evidence brought before the jury. The artifact or document itself is presented for the jury’s inspection.An exhibit may or may not be accepted as evidence.
The Ca t
