Man of the Hour: Private prosecutor Joemer Perez

Carmela Fonbuena

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

"I may be young but this is not my first time to conduct trial. Seven years of experience helped in conducting the direct examination."

MANILA, Philippines – Private prosecutor Joseph Joemer Perez stole the limelight during the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona on Monday, January 30.

His direct examination of Megaworld finance director Giovanni Ng established two important claims by the prosecution:

1) The McKinley Hill property put under the name of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s daughter, Charina, was actually reserved and paid for by the Chief Justice and his wife. At the last minute, the Chief Justice wrote Megaworld to put the property in the name of Charina. The defense panel, however, said that the Chief Justice was acting only as an agent.

2) The Chief Justice received a 40% discount–or about P10-million–on the Bellagio property, also in Taguig. Ng said this is justified because the unit has “issues” which needed to be rectified.

Perez is happy with his direct examination. “I’m happy with it. We were able to address objections. We were able to focus on what we wanted. We were able to bring out from the witness what we wanted to bring out from him,” he told Rappler.

Perez is also with the Poblador Bautista & Reyes, the law firm of lead private prosecutor Mario Bautista. Prosecution spokesperson Romero “Miro” Quimbo used to be with the law firm, too.

Perez appeared collected before former Supreme Court Justice Serafin Cuevas, who continued to object to his questions to the witness.

“I know he was just doing his job. I was doing my job as prosecutor. I may be young but this is not my first time to conduct trial. Seven years of experience helped in conducting the direct examination,” Perez said.

“I respect Justice Cuevas. I know his capabilities. I’m very much aware of that. But as I said, we are just doing our job here,” he added. – Rappler.com

 

 

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!