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The House minority bloc will file ethics complaints against two of their colleagues for supposedly violating the law for inquiring and turning over to the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, copies of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s supposed bank records.

 

Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano, a member of the opposition, said they want the House ethics panel to probe Quezon City Rep. Jorge Banal and Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali for allegedly breaking Republic Act 1405 (The Bank Secrecy Law).

 

“We will just concentrate on Banal and Umali. Apparently, they violated the bank secrecy law by providing these fake documents in the impeachment proceedings… We will pursue and continue our investigation,” Albano said.

 

He added that the opposition is just preparing the appropriate resolution, which its members will file before the ethics committee in the coming days.

 

During Corona’s impeachment trial at the Senate, Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) Katipunan branch manager Annabelle Tiongson revealed that Banal approached her last January 31 to ask for help to authenticate copies of Corona’s bank records.

 

Banal said he only wanted to verify these documents, which he said were recovered from his home’s driveway the night before he visited the bank. He added that he did not know where the bank records came from.

 

Umali, meanwhile, also managed to secure copies of Corona’s bank records, supposedly handed to him by an anonymous “small lady.” He handed these documents to the House prosecution team, who used them in a request for subpoena for Corona’s official bank records.

 

Corona is currently being tried after the House impeached him last December for betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution and graft and corruption.

 

Albano further said that Banal and Umali’s actions besmirched the reputation of the House as an institution.

 

“Para ngayong sinabi na kami ay nagsisinungaling at nilabag namin ang batas ng bank secrecy which was  passed by Congress,” he said.

 

House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez, for his part, said the way the prosecutors handled the copies of Corona’s bank records showed their lack of preparation for Corona’s trial.

 

“Dapat pinag-aralan mabuti ‘yung prinesent nating document at ebidensya sa Sendo. Hindi itong minadali natin masyado. Haste makes waste,” he said.