MANILA, Philippines — House prosecutor and Akbayan Party-list Rep. Chel Diokno on Wednesday invoked the 1962 Stonehill corruption scandal in the midst of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, warning against what he said could become another missed opportunity to uncover the full truth.
Diokno made the remark after sharing on Facebook a 1962 issue of The Sunday Times, the Sunday edition of The Manila Times, which featured a report involving his father, former Justice secretary Jose W. Diokno, during the height of the Stonehill case.
According to Diokno, his father ordered the raid on the office of American businessman Harry Stonehill, where authorities recovered the so-called “Blue Book” that allegedly contained the names and records of high-ranking officials who received bribes, and pushed for Stonehill to stand trial in the Philippines so all the evidence could be presented.
Instead, Stonehill was deported before a full trial could take place, while his father was removed from office despite newspaper reports at the time saying he had resigned, Diokno said, adding that some historians have since regarded the case as one of the country’s biggest cover-ups because it prevented the full truth from coming out.
“Will we allow this to happen again?” Diokno said, drawing a parallel between the Stonehill case and the ongoing impeachment proceedings against Duterte, where House prosecutors have sought access to financial and documentary evidence.
