DEFENSE OPPOSES REQUEST FOR BANK RECORDS
THE camp of Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona on Wednesday opposed a request of the House prosecution panel to summon bank officials to testify on the bank records of the chief magistrate and his wife Cristina.
Corona’s counsels filed a memorandum opposing the prosecutors’ request for the issuance of a subpoena to officials of Philippine Savings Bank (Psbank) and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI).
The prosecutors want the bank officials to produce bank records of the Coronas.
The House prosecution panel asked the impeachment court to summon a representative of Psbank to present the identifi- cation and signature cards of accounts under Corona’s name, which supposedly won P1 million in the Psbank Monthly Millions Raffle Promo as listed in the official list of winners of March 13, 2008.
The prosecutors also asked Psbank to produce the monthly bank statements from the
time the accounts were opened until January 2012, as well as documents regarding the Corona couple’s other bank accounts, time deposits, money- market placements and peso and dollar accounts.
The House panel wanted a subpoena for the manager of BPI Ayala Avenue branch to testify and produce documents in relation to bank accounts purportedly owned by the Corona couple.
The defense team said that the requested documents do not correspond or have any relation to Article II of the Verified Impeachment Complaint against the Chief Justice.
Article II states that Corona allegedly “committed culpable violation of the constitution and/or betrayed the public trust when he failed to disclose to the public his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) as required under Section 17, Article XI of the 1987 Constitution.”
“Surely, the solicited bank account is neither relevant nor material in this case because nothing presented before the honorable impeachment court would even suggest that the checks were drawn upon the alleged bank account,” the defense team said.
It noted that the impeachment court had decided to strike down the illegal- wealth allegation in the impeachment complaint against the Chief Justice.
During an interview, lawyer Karen Jimeno, also a spokesman for the defense, said that the bank accounts are “irrelevant” to the case, adding that the Chief Justice has no “secret” bank accounts.
Foreign currency
Psbank also on Wednesday said that any inquiry into foreign currency deposit by any party is a violation of Republic Act 6426 or the Foreign Currency Deposit Act of the Philippines.
In an official statement, Psbank President Pascual Garcia 3rd maintained that Section 8, or the Secrecy of Foreign Currency Deposits, of the Act states, “All foreign currency deposits authorized under this Act are hereby declared as and considered of an absolutely confidential nature and, except upon the written permission of the depositors, in no instance shall such foreign currency deposits be examined, inquired or looked into by any person, government official, bureau or office whether judicial or administrative or private.”
“Therefore, any inquiry into any dollar deposit account by any party is a violation of law,” Garcia said.