VERSION
[PHOTO (Banal
with Roxas & Aquino)- THE name "Bolet Banal" came out on Day 19 of the
Corona impeachment trial on Thursday after PSBank Katipunan bank manager
Annabelle Tiongson identified him as the person who went to her branch on Jan.
31 and sought her help on a dollar account of Chief Justice Renato Corona. Bolet
Banal is none other than Jorge Banal, who was elected in representative of the
third district of Quezon City in 2010. He has been a member of President Benigno
Aquino III's Liberal Party since 2002 and recently supported the impeachment of
Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo. He is the member of the prosecution's
secretariat.]
MANILA, FEBRUARY 18, 2012
(MALAYA) ('But not before it covered its tracks with a
disclaimer.')
A NEWSPAPER columnist has called the caper of House prosecutor Rey Umali in
the Corona impeachment trial to introduce the supposed dollar accounts of the
chief justice as a "tall tale about a small lady."
Umali's story of how he came into possession bank documents pertaining to
Corona is that these were given to him in the Senate premises by a woman he can
no longer describe except to say she was "small."
He did not even bother to get her name or recall her physical features. In
other words, he might as well have described a non-entity (if she ever existed
at all). He said he turned over the documents to the prosecution team which
submitted the documents to support a request for a subpoena, but not before it
covered its tracks with a disclaimer that while they could not vouch for the
integrity of the documents they had to present them just a the same as a matter
of duty. Neat, but no cigar.
On that basis, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, as the presiding officer
of the impeachment court, issued the requested subpoena for the bank mentioned
in the small lady's documents to produce the bank records of the chief justice,
but it seems that the authenticity of those documents has been questioned.
So?
Eventually, they may be thrown out for being inadmissible evidence, but they
have served their purpose, which is to be used in the continuing battle outside
the courtroom to demonize and shame Corona into resigning. Or at the very least,
make him out as damaged goods who can no longer be effective chief justice even
if he walks.
For his part, Umali apparently has elected to brazen it out. He has declared
he is standing by his story of the small lady even in the absence of proof, and
in effect has dared all, including the impeachment court, to do their worst.
There seems to be no recourse except to take it, and in answer paraphrase
Mark Antony's words to reply to Brutus' defense for assassinating Julius Caesar:
"We know you are spinning tales even if you say you are not. After all, you are
an honorable man."
MALAYA HEADLINE: 'Small Lady' story,
Banal version BY JP LOPEZ
STEP aside, "small lady." Enter Quezon City Rep. Jorge "Bolet"
Banal. (photo)
Day 19 of the impeachment trial Chief Justice Renato Corona yesterday saw the
prosecution's witness, bank executive Annabelle Tiongson, casting more doubt on
the claim of House prosecutors that a still unidentified "small lady" was the
source of the prosecution's documents on supposed accounts of Corona at the
Philippine Savings Bank.
The defense team went as far as saying the prosecution panel has been
deceiving the impeachment court and the general public on the supposed
multi-million bank deposits of Corona.
Defense lawyer Dennis Manalo also said that if proven that the supposed
evidence was not the "truthful reproduction" of the bank documents from the
original, the impeachment court could strike out the testimonies of the bank
officials.
Tiongson, manager of the PSBank branch on Katipunan avenue in Quezon City,
told the Senate sitting as an impeachment court that Banal went to the branch on
January 31 and sought her help in identifying a supposed dollar account of
Corona.
Banal is a member of President Aquino's Liberal Party and was one of the 188
congressmen who signed the impeachment complaint against Corona. He is a member
of the prosecution panel's secretariat.
Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali has been saying a "small lady" gave him an
envelope containing the documents at the Senate vicinity on February 2. The
documents were used by the prosecution in requesting the Senate to subpoena
PSBank officials and documents.
The impeachment court has been trying to establish the authenticity of the
documents from Umali, and the source of the leak, if these were authentic.
Banal, appearing before the impeachment court, said he found the document
inserted in his gate on the morning of January 30, a day before he went to the
bank to verify the authenticity of the document.
He also apologized to the impeachment court and to his colleagues in the
prosecution panel if his independent effort to verify the document has caused
confusion.
He said he never knew Tiongson and it was the first time that he met her.
Banal, a former US banker, is a first-term lawmaker of the 3rd district of
Quezon City which has jurisdiction over Katipunan avenue.
During the trial, Tiongson said she first thought Banal would open an account
at the bank.
"He introduced himself that he was Congressman Banal so he said that maybe we
could help him, or I could help him personally, and then I said, 'I'm sorry
that's not possible.'"
She said Banal showed her only part of two pages of "white paper" because he
was covering up the rest of the document.
Tiongson confirmed that what Banal showed was "a photocopy similar to the one
in Annex A, a photocopy of (a) specimen signature card, but he was covering it."
Annex A are the photocopies of purported bank documents the prosecution
attached in its supplemental request to subpoena supposed foreign currency
deposit accounts of Corona.
Tiongson, during her first appearance at the Senate impeachment court last
week, described the prosecution's documents "fake."
Tiongson said Banal "asked about dollar signs -- 'What is this, is this a
dollar sign?' -- something like that. And when I said I couldn't help him, he
just left."
Banal admitted talking to Tiongson and even said he left a calling card with
the bank manager.
Tiongson said she asked Banal how he acquired the documents, to which he
replied: "I will tell if you help us."
"He said so many people are helping us. But definitely it (documents) did not
come from us," she said.
On questioning of presiding officer Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile,
Tiongson confirmed that the name on the paper shown to her by Banal was that of
Corona.
Tiongson said after Banal left the bank, she immediately checked the
signature cards kept in their vault to make sure the documents are still there.
Following Tiongson's revelation, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago moved to
subpoena Banal, which was granted by Enrile.
Later, Enrile modified the order and, citing inter-parliamentary courtesy,
just invited Banal to the continuation of the hearing on Monday.
OUT OF THE LOOP?
Lead prosecutor Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. said he was not aware that Banal had
documents in his possession.
"I had it (documents) on February 2," Tupas said. He said he got the copy of
the document from Umali.
Prosecution spokesman Rep. Romero Quimbo said Umali got angry with Banal for
making independent moves without the knowledge of his colleagues.
Quimbo, in a statement, said the issue of Banal's visit to the PSBank "was
nothing more than a smokescreen to distract attention from the discovery of two
more secret bank accounts belonging to the top magistrate."
"This issue about Congressman Banal is just a sideshow. I'm saddened by the
fact that this is being used to distract our attention from Corona's
multimillion-peso bank accounts," he said without naming who was using the issue
of Banal's visit, which came from the prosecution's own witness.
Deputy speaker Erin Tañada, another spokesman, said he saw nothing wrong with
what Banal did.
"Kung totoo man ito, parang pulis lang siya na magalang na nagtatanong sa
isang tindera kung meron ba siyang nakitang holdaper na dumaan sa kanyang
harapan. Ang isyu dito ay 'yung holdaper, hindi 'yung mababait na tao na gustong
mahuli 'yung holdaper," he said.
Aurora Rep. Sonny Angara said they expect the defense lawyers "to go to town
with this issue to cover up for the damaging information which surfaced in
today's hearing."
"They (defense counsels) will fan this non-issue as a smokescreen that will
hide from the public the revelation made by a bank manager in open court and
under oath that the chief justice maintained two more accounts with huge peso
deposits in Ms. Tiongson's branch," Angara said.
In yesterday's trial, PSBank president Pascual Garcia III revealed before the
Senate impeachment court that Corona had two more time deposit accounts with the
bank, one of which, containing P17 million, was terminated by the chief justice
on Dec. 12, 2011, the same day he was impeached by 188 House members.
THREE ARTICLES
The House leadership said it is planning to limit the presentation of
evidence to three Articles of Impeachment, including Article II which pertains
to alleged inaccuracies and untruthfulness of Corona's declarations in his
statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the prosecution may just present evidence
on Articles II, III and VII.
Article III pertains to Corona's failure to act with competence, integrity
and independence as a member of the judiciary in allowing the Supreme Court to
flip-flop on final decisions, creating an excessive entanglement with detained
former president Gloria Arroyo through her appointment of his wife to office,
and in discussing with litigants cases pending in the high tribunal.
Article VII involves his alleged partiality in granting a temporary
restraining order in favor of Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo to give
them an opportunity to escape prosecution and to frustrate the ends of justice.
Majority leader Neptali Gonzales II said the prosecution is looking at March
12 as deadline to wrap up the presentation of evidence.
"It's a subject of discussion, but we definitely want to end the proceedings
before the Lenten break," said Belmonte.
Congress goes on Lenten break on March 23.
Gonzales said they are "pretty confident" that Corona will be convicted even
on Article II alone, even without disclosing the Chief Justice's dollar
accounts, against which the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order.
He said the Chief Justice's peso accounts and other assets not declared in
his SALNs would be enough.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE
HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS
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