FALSIFIED BANK DOCS / NOY TO JUDGES: IGNORE SC'S TRO
[PHOTO - Impeach prosecutors Rep. Rey Umali behind
Rep. Neil Tupas]
MANILA,
FEBRUARY 12, 2012 (TRIBUNE) By
Charlie V. Manalo - Umali appeals to 'small lady' to come forward on leakage
.
With the Senate Court ready to get to the bottom of the leakage of the bank
accounts, both dollar and peso, of Chief Justice Renato Corona by summoning
Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) Katipunan Branch manager Annabelle Tiongco to
testify before the impeachment court, the prosecutors said they welcomed the
Senate's move to find out where the leak came from.
There was also the veiled threat issued by presiding judge Senate
President Juan Ponce Enrile to the congressmen-prosecutors that they may
face sanctions should it be found that the prosecutors submitted falsified
copies of the bank, apart from their having been illegally obtained.
Rep. Rey Umali was quoted as making a plea to the "small lady" who gave him
the envelope containing the documents pertaining to Corona's accounts in the
PSBank yesterday, appealing to his unidentified source to come out and testify,
despite there being a liability, as she would be doing the nation a favor.
Despite Umali's plea to the "small lady," however, the Senate's CCTVs show
absolutely no "small lady" anywhere in sight handing the congressman any
envelope.
As a result, lead prosecutor Niel Tupas Jr. and Umali have been caught lying
to the Senate Impeachment Court again, on his "small lady" story,
Umali said the "small lady" who he said was the anonymous source had handed
him an envelope in the Senate impeachment court containing the bank accounts of
the Chief Justice but the Senate, which investigated the claim of Umali, through
the CCTV showed up the claim of Umali as a lie.
It was said that Tupas is a bank client of the same bank headed by its branch
manager, Tiongson.
Tupas is claimed to have an account in that bank that runs to the millions.
The source said the bank documents were first shown to Tupas, who had asked
for these.
"This was the reason the prosecutors, in asking for the subpoena from the
senators, did not ask for the branch manager Tiongson, and instead had ( Pascual
Garcia), president of the PSBank testify instead on the bank accounts yearly
ending balance on the accounts of Corona," the source pointed out.
"And the reason Tupas and Umali came up with the story of the 'anonymous'
source of the bank documents giving the congressman an envelope," he added.
Tiongson has been summoned by the Senate court to testify on Monday's trial,
a move which the PSBank president wanted to block, owning all liability and
responsibility, while also stating in court that the copies of the bank
documents attached to the summons as annexes do not appear to be a facsimile of
the original bank documents.
The Presiding Impeachment officer revealed Thursday that the BSP is now
investigating the leakage of the bank documents that the prosecution used as
basis to subpoena the bank records of the Chief Justice with the PSBank.
Senate chief Juan Ponce Enrile said this as he directed to bring to the
impeachment court branch manager Tiongson of the PSBank-Katipunan where Corona
maintains bank accounts, alleged to be both peso and dollar accounts.
"I must tell you that this court is in possession of information regarding
the leakage bank documents and, in fact, the BSP is now conducting an
investigation regarding this leakage," Enrile said.
"We have to protect the integrity of the bank system. So, bring the manager
here to answer questions," Enrile instructed Garcia.
The Tribune's Friday issue identified the leak as Annabelle Tiongson, the
branch manager, who was the original person in the subpoena, although the
president of the bank took her place instead, claiming that Tiongson was too
tense and stressed to testify.
The report also stated, quoting the Tribune's unimpeachable source as saying
that the leak came from Tiongson, then passed on to one Gigi Sawit and a blogger
and stringer of the South China Morning Post who called up the Tribune yesterday
to state that she does not even know Gigi Sawit.
The Tribune stands by it story as told by the source.
According to another source, Tiongson might have altered a reproduction of
the bank records to make it appear it did not come from the bank, to escape
criminal prosecution.
At the same time, the defense said it is now up to Corona to decide whether
to sue those behind the leakage of they records of his bank account.
Although stressing that criminal liability awaits those who have perpetrated
the leakage of the alleged bank records of the SC Chief Justice, one of his
spokesmen for the defense panel said it is up now up to Corona to decide whether
to pursue criminal charges against those suspected of leaking the information.
At the weekly news forum at the Rembrandt Hotel in Quezon City, lawyer Karen
Jimeno said those behind the leakage of Corona's bank records are liable for
criminal liabilities as leaking such information to the public is very much
against the law.
"Yes, they are criminally liable," Jimeno told reporters covering the forum.
The defense counsel said that although the prosecution might appear to be
enjoying the upper hand in the trial with the revelation of Corona's bank
accounts with regard to media mileage, she stressed the prosecution has not
proven anything illegal as yet on the matter of the balance of Corona's bank
accounts uncovered.
She stressed that the money in the bank is well within the range of his
income from his salaries and allowances and from the sale of his properties,
plus the P38 million held in trust by his wife, in behalf of her family's
corporation.
Jimeno said that when the defense's turn to their witnesses comes, defense
lawyers will have a chance to explain the accounts of Corona.
The lady lawyer also took a shot at Malacañang saying it has no right to
meddle in Corona's dollar accounts because it is not a crime to own one.
"President Aquino cannot dictate on Corona, whether or not he can have a
dollar account," Jimeno said after being informed the President had challenged
Corona on Friday to present information on his dollar accounts if he has nothing
to hide.
"The money in Corona's dollar accounts was part of his savings even before he
became Chief Justice," said Jimeno.
Under the Foreign Currency Deposit Act, a disclosure of foreign currency bank
accounts can only be made upon written permission from the depositor.
The senator-judges have scheduled a caucus on Monday at 11 a.m. to discuss
the SC's temporary restraining order that put a stop to the Senate's insistence
in ordering the witness to disclose the records of Corona's alleged dollar
accounts.
She lamented the fact the Senate had become too lax in the implementation of
the rules of impeachment which the Senate itself had drafted.
Under Section 17 of the rules of impeachment, although the Senator-judges are
allowed to ask anything under the sun from the witnesses, both the prosecution
and the defense can pose objections for the witnesses not to answer the
questions.
But based on the actual proceedings, whenever the prosecutors cannot extract
the answers they want from their own witnesses, some senator-judges take over
from them, asking the same questions the prosecution team had asked from the
witnesses, compelling them to answer under threat of being cited for contempt.
"If you will notice, (retired) Justice (Serafin) Cuevas, on several
occasions, tried to object and stop the witnesses from answering those leading
questions but he has been overruled in as many instances," said Jimeno.
The prosecution panel predictably put a spin to it saying the admission of
Corona of the bank accounts ownership already proves that he has stashed his
hidden wealth.
Noy tells impeach judges: Ignore SC's TRO By Angie
M. Rosales and Gerry Baldo 02/11/2012
President Aquino is raring to create a constitutional crisis as he
yesterday urged senator-judges to ignore the high court's ruling granting the
Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank)'s petition for a TRO against the Senate court's
insistence in having the bank disclose the records of the dollar bank accounts
alleged to belong to the Chief Justice.
It was also the same call from the prosecutors who said that the Senate court
should pursue allegations that Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona
has millions of dollars account at the PSBank.
Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said the TRO was nothing more than an attempt
to hide the truth on allegations that the Chief Justice has concealed his assets
in several bank accounts.
"How much in dollars does the Chief Justice have and why has he not declared
this in his SALn?"
He said defense counsel Serafin Cuevas made a serious mistake when he asked
that the defense and the prosecution jointly go to the bank to inspect the
(peso) monthly bank statements of Corona in the BPI bank. Now there is no
turning back from that."
Colmenares stressed that the prosecution panel was vindicated when the
testimonies of the bank officials of the Bank of the Philippine Islands and the
PSBank showed that there was more than P31 million in Corona's bank accounts
which were not stated in his SALn.
"The fact that the Impeachment Court found that Justice Corona has more than
P31 million of undeclared wealth in his PSBank and BPI bank accounts has
practically proven the prosecution's theory that he has unexplained wealth which
he failed to disclose in his SALn," Colmenares said.
Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said that the TRO is a big blow to the
authority and independence of the Impeachment Court as the sole body, which has
the power to try and decide on impeachment cases.
"The Impeachment Court should initiate moves to counter this move of SC,"
Evardone, chairman of the House Committee on Information, said yesterday.
Evardone said that acceding to the TRO would set a bad precedent which would
pave the way for impeached officials to get a reprieve from the SC.
"The TRO imposed by eight justices of the Supreme Court was an insult on the
Senate especially since the Senate's subpoena was very reasonable and legal. The
Foreign Currency Deposits Law does not assure absolute confidentiality of dollar
accounts as the Supreme Court itself declared in the China Bank case where the
SC said that confidentiality only applies to foreigners but not to Filipino
account holders otherwise all corrupt officials, drug lords and gambling lords
will just deposit their stash in dollar accounts to escape prosecution," the
lawmaker said.
Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Farinas, a member of the prosecution panel, said
the TRO is another attempt by the Supreme court to meddle in constitutional
mandate of the House of Representatives.
But in the upper chamber, a senator said the Senate impeachment court should
heed the TRO issued to avoid and not precipitate a constitutional collision with
the judiciary.
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said yesterday that unlike previous
constitutions of the country, there is a provision under the 1987 Constitution
saying that the SC has the power not only over justiciable questions but also
over so-called political questions, she said.
Santiago, a known constitu-tionalist, explained that a political question is
a question of policy that is reserved for two political branches to decide.
Under a political doctrine in the past, the SC has no power to accept any
case that involves a political question as it can only be resolved after
Congress has passed a law.
"Under the new Constitution, in addition to the judicial power, the high
court has jurisdiction over political questions. Congress can no longer invoke
the political question doctrine, it now has to follow what the SC says. It
should stop all proceedings concerning the foreign currency deposits because the
law says it's absolutely confidential," Santiago said.
"The Senate still has to respond. In my view, the Senate should no longer
raise a question that the SC has no jurisdiction over the impeachment court
because clearly under the Constitution, what the SC is doing is constitutional.
I think the Senate should comply with the TRO," she added.
The senator's assertion is in the light of the high court's issuance of a TRO
in the opening of dollar accounts of SC Chief Justice Renato Corona who is
facing impeachment proceedings.
Even if the laws provide that the upper chamber has the sole authority in
carrying out impeachment proceedings, the senator expressed belief that there
remains a system of checks and balances under the said provision.
"No one branch, assuming for the sake of argument that the impeachment court
is the fourth branch, is allowed to be absolute in its power.
"If the impeachment court rules that it has absolute power over anything
concerning impeachment then there is no check on it at all. It becomes a
'super-branch' of government. There has to be some checks on impeachment court.
All other branches have checks guaranteed by our tripartite system," she said.
Under the country's system of checks and balances, every branch can be
checked by another branch, Santiago said.
"Even the SC can be checked. If the SC issues a decision, that's the end of
litigation. That's not the end of the latter. Parties can no longer bring a case
over and over because that is already res judicata. But the SC can be overruled
by Congress by passing a law," the senator said.
"The Executive, on the other hand, can show its displeasure with the ruling
of the high court by offering a budget lower than the prior one for the SC. In
the end, in the final analysis, these are the powers of the three branches – the
Executive has the Armed Forces, Congress has the power of the purse and the SC
has the power of judicial review. Of all three branches, the least dangerous
branch is the SC. It's passive. It has to wait for the case to be filed before
it.
"If the impeachment court defies the TRO, the impeachment court is ruling
that there is no check on it, then that it becomes an absolute impeachment
court. that is not allowed by our system of checks and balances. We should avoid
and not precipitate a constitutional collision," she added.
Both the Senate and the judiciary should avert any potential collision,
Santiago said.
"Both should give way, with the Senate obeying with the TRO and on the part
of SC, by imposing limitations on itself by its power of self-limitation and
balance the interest of checking another branch with the need to expect the
autonomy of that branch of government," she said.
If the impeachment court resolves not to follow TRO, there would be a
collision.Theres no way of avoiding that anymore. If they insist on their
positions, there will be a stalemate, which will then be decided in the streets
because there's nobody else will make the decision. So as much as possible to
avoid a situation where we in effect forfeit the right of one branch to check
the other, we're in effect surrendering the power to the people, to the mob.
"There were 7 to 10,000 people in SC in favor of SC decision. What if it
multiplied 10 times, and there were a million people on Edsa? We don't want it
to happen all over again. People are suffering from people power nausea, Let us
abide by the SC order. We have to be very very patient with the impeachment
court. We have to be extraordinarily patient because the price of rashness or
showmanship will be public disturbance," she said.
Santiago said it's likely that she will not be able to attend the called
senator's caucus on Monday due to her erratic blood pressure.
She will send a letter instead to explain her absence.
"But I will attend the trial on Monday," she said.
When asked on what likely be the consensus of majority of her colleagues,
Santiago predicted a defiance on the TRO.
"If we go by decisions in the past, they'll probably defy the TRO because of
that public demonstration yesterday. Some of those who are pro-prosecution will
now think carefully whether they want to change their mind," she said.
Santiago said will not even try to convince her colleagues as the decision is
a matter of conscience.
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS
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