Day 19: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate

Published February 16, 2012 7:22pm

Miriam warns prosecution against hostile witnesses

At the start of trial, Senator-judge Miriam Defensor-Santiago asked the House prosecutors if they consider Philippine Savings Bank President Pascual Garcia III and PSBank-Katipunan branch manager Anabelle Tiongson as hostile witnesses, pointing out that the documents they produce may “controvert” the prosecution's allegations. She was referring to Tiongson’s earlier testimony that the alleged bank documents of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona submitted by the prosecution to the impeachment court were fake.
Lead prosecutor Niel Tupas Jr. said they do not consider the two as hostile witnesses and that they were only called to produce documents. He said the prosecution panel will just “make the necessary action” later in case the witnesses’ testimonies do not support their arguments.
Santiago and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, presiding officer of the impeachment court, warned the prosecution that the statements of the witnesses “will be binding” on the panel. Santiago added that she was merely “trying to be helpful” to the prosecutors.

Corona closed three accounts the day he was impeached

Taking the witness stand, branch manager Tiongson submitted bank certifications showing details of Corona's five time deposit accounts with the bank that were subpoenaed by the court.
Her testimony revealed that two of the accounts were closed on Dec. 12, 2011, the day Corona was impeached by the House of Representatives. One of the accounts was opened on December 22, 2009 with an opening balance of P8.5 million. The other account was opened on September 1, 2010 with an opening balance of P7,090,099.45.
When PSBank President Garcia III took the stand, he said there was a third account of Corona that was also closed on December 12, 2011 but was not covered by the subpoena. He said Corona opened the P17-million peso time deposit account in June 29 last year.
Senator Jinggoy Estrada expressed suspicion about the timing of the closing of Corona’s bank accounts, even as he said he did not want to put any malice into it.
Private prosecutor Demetrio Custodio said the bank accounts were closed apparently “in preparation for the impeachment trial.”

PSBank President says some details in "fake" Corona accounts are authentic

During questioning by Enrile, PSBank president Garcia said that although a document regarding Corona's dollar accounts obtained by the prosecution team had ‘discrepancies’ vis-à-vis the original, some of the information on the copy were "authentic."
Garcia said he ordered several senior officers to transfer original copies of Corona's bank documents from the Katipunan branch to PSBank's head office after learning that a congressman had obtained photocopies and attempted to verify the records.
He said the documents were moved to a vault in their office with "dual access and dual control" but admitted he did not personally oversee the transfer and that "it is possible" someone may have opened the vault without his knowledge.

Rep. Banal asked for “help” from PSBank branch manager

During questioning by Senator Loren Legarda on how copies of Corona's bank accounts found their way to the prosecution panel, Tiongson denied giving information to anyone but said she was approached by Quezon City Rep. Jorge “Bolet” Banal about it.
Tiongson said Banal went to the bank and showed her photocopies of the documents, seeking guidance about the records. She said it was unclear what Banal wanted from her, and that he “just asked if I could help” decipher some of the symbols in the documents.
She said the congressman did not ask her to produce any documents, and that he left when she told him she could not help him.
Before the trial was adjourned for the day, Banal explained to the court that he went to the bank last Jan. 31 to verify the handwritten notation “700k” and dollar sign in a document that he found on his gate the previous night. As the prosecution team member in charge of finance, he said he undertook the verification of the document so he would not give any wrong information to his colleagues. He said Tiongson was “very firm but polite” in turning down his request.
The court ordered Banal to return at the resumption of the trial on Monday, Feb. 20.

– with reports from Kimberly Jane Tan, Andreo Calonzo, and Mark Merueñas/YA, GMA News