Getting A Business Checking Account

Corona closed bank accounts on 'impeachment' day — bank execs

MANILA, Philippines – On January 16, Chief Justice Renato C. Corona went on trial before the Senate sitting as an impeachment court.A month into the trial, public interest in the proceedings appears to be waning, and many can’t wait for it to end.A random poll taken by the Manila Bulletin highlights the people’s impatience over the trial. A number of respondents believe it is going nowhere and mired in technicalities.”It’s overly long,” said Michele Morales, a 19-year-old student. …

Japan whalers ask judge to freeze group's accounts

SEATTLE (AP) — Japanese whalers on Thursday were to ask a U.S. judge to freeze the bank accounts of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, arguing that the Washington state-based anti-whaling activist group finances terrorism.

The society has led attacks on whaling ships in Antarctic waters, and some of the clashes have been shown on the “Whale Wars” reality TV show on the Animal Planet channel.

In a federal lawsuit filed in Seattle on Dec. 8, Japan‘s Institute of Cetacean Research said Sea Shepherd activists show up at hunts in boats, ramming whaling ships, dragging ropes near rudders and propellers, and hurling smoke bombs and bottles of acid at crews.

“Plaintiffs are entitled to be free from attack by what are essentially self-proclaimed pirates with a base in the state of Washington,” the institute said in court documents.

U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones scheduled a hearing on the lawsuit for Thursday. Sea Shepherd lawyer Dan Harris said in a filing that the court doesn’t have jurisdiction in the Southern Ocean.

Japan’s whaling fleet kills up to 1,000 whales a year, an allowed exception under a ruling by the International Whaling Commission. Japan is permitted to hunt the animals as long as they are caught for research and not commercial purposes. Whale meat not used for study is sold as food in Japan, which critics say is the real reason for the hunts.

Activists launched or threw glass bottles containing paint or butyric acid in one attack last year, the captain of a whaling vessel said in an affidavit translated from Japanese.

“A crew member could be blinded in such an attack,” said Tomoyuki Ogawa, captain of the Nisshin Maru. “These attacks also cause fear in the crew, thus interfering with the prompt and accurate carrying out of orders.”

Sea Shepherd president Paul Watson said in documents that his activists have never injured any whalers. He accused the whalers of attacking activists with concussion grenades, long-range acoustical devices, bamboo spears, heavy nuts and bolts, water cannons and prop foulers.

Each hunting season runs from about December through February. Sea Shepherd has sent boats to the waters off Antarctica for the past several years in an attempt to thwart the hunt. The two sides have occasionally had violent clashes, including a skirmish in which a Sea Shepherd boat was sunk after its bow was sheared off in a collision with a whaling ship.

Sea Shepherd lawyers deny the activists endanger whalers. Harris said in the filing that most of the institute’s claims in the lawsuit are invalid.

Senate Wants Corona Wife's Bank Accounts

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate ordered on Thursday PSBank President Pascual Garcia III to bring to the impeachment court the bank records of Cristina Corona, wife of impeached Chief Justice Renato C. Corona.

The order was issued after bank officials revealed that the Chief Justice closed some of his accounts on December 12, 2011, the day he was impeached by the House of Representatives.

As this developed, Quezon City Rep. Jorge “Bolet” Banal Jr. appeared before the Senate impeachment court to confirm that he went to the PSBank-Katipunan branch last January to inquire about the contents of a photocopy of a leaked bank account, supposedly owned by the Chief Justice, in his possession.

Banal’s appearance came after PSBank-Katipunan branch manager Annabelle Tiongson testified that sometime on January 31, 2012, the lawmaker showed her a document “that looks like Annex A” of the prosecution’s request for subpoena for the bank accounts of the Chief Justice.

Tiongson said she was surprised why Banal had in his possession a photocopy of a PSBank signature card that was similar to Annex A (the leaked bank record) and was covering parts of it.

When pressed how he got the bank document, Banal allegedly replied: “If you will help us, I will tell you.” Banal, according to Tiongson, even added “so many people are helping us.” Banal even said he was part of a secretariat.

Tiongson said Banal left after she didn’t reply to his queries asking her, for one, to confirm that the document he was holding which was similar to Annex A had a dollar sign.

Immediately after Banal left, Tiongson said she and two bank officers opened the vault to check on the Corona accounts and found them there.

Tiongson said he asked Banal to hand her over the document for further examination but the Quezon City congressman refused.

A check with the records of the House of Representatives showed Banal is a member of the Lower House and is currently the vice chairman the Committee on Basic Education and Culture and Deputy Majority Leader of the Committee on Rules.

Banal has been a member of the Liberal Party since 2002.

New Account Uncovered

At the course of the Day 19 trial, it was uncovered during the testimony of Garcia that Corona opened a bank account with an opening balance of P17 million on June 29, 2011 and was closed on December 12, 2011, the day when the House of Representatives impeached him.

Tiongson also testified that the Chief Justice had five time deposit (TD) accounts from 2007 to 2010 at the PSBank. However, three of these were closed on December 12, 2011, the same day he was impeached by the House of Representatives.

She said Corona’s first account was opened on December 22, 2009 with an opening balance ofP8,500,000. By December 31, 2010, the account had a balance of P12,580,316.56, she said.

The second account was opened on September 1, 2010 with an opening deposit of P7,090,099.45. By December 31, 2010, the second account had a balance of P7,148,238.83.

The third account had an opening balance of P17 million and was also closed on December 12,2011.

The three accounts had a total balance of more than P36 million as of December 31, 2010.

With Tiongson’s testimony, the prosecution team claimed it strengthened their allegation about the dishonest disclosure of Corona’s SALN. The P36-million balance as of end-December 2010 is much higher than the P3.5 million cash and investments Corona declared in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) in 2010.

Tiongson said the two other time deposit accounts of Corona are: one that was opened in January, 2009, with a P2.1-million opening balance and closed in April, 2009; and another opened on December 22, 2009 with an opening balance of P8.5 million and closed on December 12, 2011.

Meanwhile, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago open Thursday’s trial by “lecturing” prosecution lead counsel Rep. Niel Tupas Jr about the status of their witness.

Santiago who appeared calm, asked the House prosecutors whether they consider Garcia and Tiongson as hostile witnesses.

“Your witness seems to have turned into a hostile witness because your argument is that your attachments to the supplemental petition are genuine and your witness is testifying that they are fake,” she said.

Santiago was referring to Tiongson’s testimony last Monday that Corona’s supposed bank documents submitted by the prosecution to the impeachment court were fake. Garcia, who supported Tiongson’s claim, was asked to bring the original copies of the documents.

Based on the rules of evidence, “a witness may be considered as unwilling or hostile only if so declared by the court upon adequate showing of his adverse interest, unjustified reluctance to testify, or his having misled the party into calling him to the witness stand.”

In response to Santiago’s query, Tupas said they do not consider the two as hostile witnesses, saying they were called as witnesses to produce documents.

“If you insist she is your witness… then you cannot impeach your own witness. You will be bound by what she says, that is my warning to you. This is just trying to be helpful to you,” the lady senator said.

“If you do not consider these witnesses as hostile witnesses, any other statement made by them adverse to your position as prosecution will be binding on you. It’s a decision you have to make,” added Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, presiding officer of the impeachment court.

CJ closed 3 bank accounts

MANILA, Philippines – Three of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s time deposits in Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) with a combined total of P36.5 million as of end-2010 were closed on Dec. 12 last year, the day he was impeached by the House of Representatives, a witness for the prosecution testified yesterday.

Lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas emphasized to the Senate impeachment court that the peso accounts in question were not covered by the Articles of Impeachment against the Chief Justice.

PSBank Katipunan branch manager Annabelle Tiongson said Corona’s peso deposit with account number 089-121019593 was opened on Dec. 22, 2009 with an initial amount of P8.5 million.

She said that as of Dec. 31, 2010, the account had increased to P12.5 million, but was closed on Dec. 12, 2011.

Another peso deposit with account number 089-121021681 with an opening amount of P7,019, 099.45 was also closed on Dec. 12, 2011, she said.

PSBank president Pascual Garcia III also revealed Corona had another peso time deposit account 089-121023848 with an opening balance of P17 million on June 29, 2011. It was “closed and terminated” on Dec. 12 last year.

Garcia volunteered the information, adding Corona had a total of four time deposit accounts in the bank.

He said the chief magistrate opened a peso time deposit 089-121-02-144 on July 23, 2010 with a balance of P7,380,438.65. This account was closed on Sept. 1, 2010, he said.

From the testimonies of the two bank officials, Corona had withdrawn a total of P36.5 million in the three bank accounts on the day he was impeached by the House.

Impeachment court presiding officer Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile allowed Garcia to testify further on the two other accounts of Corona since he himself revealed them to the court.

“If there are peso accounts, since you have testified on them now, it is proper for you to testify what are those peso accounts,” Enrile told Garcia.

“This is a new amount of money, deposited with a different account number,” Enrile said.

“It was separate account, with separate account number but the source of the fund deposited, we have no (idea),” Garcia explained.

“In addition… there are two other accounts because I have no details as of the moment… I will probably disclose it formally later, and the other one is a current account,” Garcia told Enrile.

Asked about the first two accounts, Garcia revealed they were connected to the five earlier mentioned in the court’s subpoena. The two additional accounts were new ones.

Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada remarked that it was “quite suspicious that these three accounts were all closed on the day that the Chief Justice was impeached.”

It was on Dec. 12, 2011 that 188 congressmen signed the impeachment complaint accusing Corona of betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and culpable violation of the Constitution.

Later in the hearing, Tiongson said the withdrawals in the three time deposits closed on Dec. 12 were made through managers’ checks that were covered by an authorization letter provided by Corona to his wife Cristina.

Tiongson said she was unsure whether the amounts had been withdrawn or “negotiated” but assured the impeachment court that these were not transferred to new accounts in the same bank.

Tiongson vowed to provide more information on where the money went upon her return to the witness stand for the next impeachment hearings and upon subpoena of the court.

Tiongson further testified Corona opened a time deposit on Jan. 26, 2009 under account number 089-1210117358 with a balance of P2.1 million and this was closed on April 16, 2009.

She said Corona had opened a time deposit on March 4, 2010, under account number 089-121020122 with a balance of P3.7 million and which was closed on April 23, 2010.

Another time deposit was opened on May 16, 2007 under account number 089-121011957 – with an amount of P2 million – and was closed on Oct. 2, 2008, she said.

Sen. Sergio Osmeña III asked Tiongson if she knew of other bank accounts of Corona with PSBank apart from the five time deposits she had mentioned and the dollar accounts.

Tiongson replied these were the only bank deposits that she knew of.

Garcia, for his part, was left with no choice but to reveal Corona’s two other accounts – making him owner of seven peso accounts with PSBank – after Osmeña asked him whether the Chief Justice had other deposit instruments with the bank.

Osmeña had ordered the PSBank officials to bring information and certifications on Corona’s other possible investments with the bank.

Garcia revealed the accounts containing opening balances of P7 million and P17 million, respectively, in 2010 and 2011.

“I have certified that Renato Corona has no peso account with PSBank that classified as either investment, management or trust account, a unit investment trust fund or mutual account. I have done so in compliance with subpoena ad testificandum, and duces tecum Feb. 13, 2012,” he said.

“So therefore, he (Corona) has certificates of deposits, settlement accounts, time deposits, current accounts and savings accounts?” Osmeña asked Garcia.

Garcia explained the two other peso dominated accounts under the name of Corona were brought to the impeachment court’s attention since they were not previously covered by the first subpoena earlier this month.

“With respect to that, we do have other peso denominated accounts under Renato Coronado Corona, which were not subject matter of the subpoena. There are other peso accounts that are not in the original subpoena,” he said.

An attempt to conceal

Sen. Loren Legarda asked the prosecution about the relevance of the closing of the accounts in 2011 to Article 2 of the impeachment complaint, paragraph 2.2 of which refers to Corona’s failure to disclose his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) from 2002 to 2010.

Private prosecutor Demetrio Custodio answered that while the 2011 peso accounts of Corona were not relevant to their complaint, this indicated the chief magistrate’s preparation for the impeachment trial.

Custodio stressed the closure of the accounts was an attempt to conceal his bank deposits.

At the start of the trial yesterday, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago asked members of the prosecution if they want to consider Tiongson and Garcia as hostile witnesses.

Santiago said it appears that Tiongson has turned into a hostile witness as she testified that the document attached in the prosecution’s request for subpoena is “fake.”

Because Tiongson is the prosecution’s witness, Santiago said her statements bind the prosecution.

“Do you want to consider them as hostile witnesses?” Enrile asked lead prosecutor Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas.

“At the moment your honor, no,” Tupas replied. “We don’t consider our witnesses as hostile.”

“Well, I’m just trying to help your counsel. The rules of evidence are if he becomes a hostile witness you gain the right to impeach her, ask her leading questions… that is my warning to you, this judge is just trying to be helpful to you,” Santiago told Tupas.

The defense panel, however, doused speculations of attempts by the chief magistrate to hide the P36.5 million in the three peso time deposit accounts with PSBank on the same day he was impeached by the House.

“They are trying to mislead us. They add all existing accounts. Sometimes if you got five (million) from one account, then you can open another account (using the same amount) and make it 12 (million),” defense counsel Rico Paolo Quicho said.

“We will focus on the details, once we get the opportunity to present it…I assure them that once it is our time to present, we will be able to explain them methodically and convincingly. We will make sure that every (year) end, will have a corresponding explanation…” Quicho added.

Another defense counsel Tranquil Salvador III said there was no anomaly in Corona’s bank accounts, since Mrs. Corona was entrusted some P 37 million in 2001 by the Manila government in connection with the expropriations of the property of the Basa Guidote Enterprises Inc, a corporation said to be owned by Cristina’s family.

Salvador said the defense is ready to explain in due time, noting that defense is yet to have the chance to controvert evidence presented by the prosecution.

On the impression created by the revelations that Corona closed three more peso time deposits on the day he was impeached, Quicho appealed for more understanding from the public to wait for their turn to present their side on the issue.

“That is what they want to happen. They are entitled to that. I am holding on to what I think is right, notwithstanding that we are already leaking this information out this early. We are asking for sobriety, more fairness from the public,” Quicho said.

The prosecution said Corona’s move to close the three bank accounts was a “clear sign of guilt.”

“We are appalled by this latest development. The fact that he ordered these accounts terminated the same day the House impeached him tends to show that there was an attempt on his part to conceal these,” prosecution spokesman Marikina City Rep. Miro Quimbo said.

Deputy Speaker Erin Tañada also accused the Chief Justice of hiding his huge bank deposits.

“This is a clear sign that Mr. Corona is guilty of concealing huge banks deposits,” he said.

“The P17 million in just one deposit represents about 30 years of his pay as Supreme Court justice based on the documents of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The only way he can justify this huge stash, aside from being perhaps a repeat winner in PSBank raffles, is that he was a secret Lotto winner,” Tañada said.

On the other hand, House Majority Leader and Mandaluyong Rep. Neptali Gonzales II raised the possibility that PSBank altered its records of the accounts of Corona to protect itself.

Gonzales said this could be possible since the senator-judges continue to grapple with the question on whether the copies of PSBank documents on Corona’s accounts presented by the prosecutors were faithful reproductions.

Gonzales noted Tiongson earlier testified the photocopy of bank documents presented by prosecutors was fake.

The particular photocopy of opening balances and Corona’s specimen signatures was attached by the prosecution panel to its request to the Senate impeachment court to subpoena the bank records of the Chief Justice.

Tupas and Malacañang stressed the documents were authentic since the bank officials confirmed the accounts did exist.

“Also it’s unfair for the branch manager to say for the first time that it was fake but they don’t want to reveal why they’re saying it’s fake. If they’re (witnesses) asked where the documents are but they said they cannot answer, that’s because there is a TRO (temporary restraining order) from the Supreme Court,” Gonzales told reporters in Filipino.

“I think that’s a very unfair statement for the Senate to accept hook, line and (sinker), it’s also unfair to the prosecution. Many of those asking the questions are senators and then they say ‘you (prosecutors) are bound by the statement of your witness’ so what can we do?” he said.

Gonzales said it was fortunate the trial “forced” the disclosure of some information on the bank accounts.

PSBank was able to obtain a TRO after petitioning the SC to block the Senate impeachment court’s subpoena on Corona’s dollar accounts.

“But many days have passed. I’m not saying that it’s true but what if they (records) were changed? If the file was changed to protect their burden. That’s the danger there. You allow certain things to be fake on the basis of something and they don’t want to show (proof) because there’s a TRO. That’s unfair,” Gonzales said. – Paolo Romero – By Christina Mendez and Helen Flores (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)

Senate subpoenas Mrs. Corona's accounts

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, has also subpoenaed the bank accounts of the wife of Chief Justice Renato Corona in a Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) branch.

PSBank President Pascual Garcia said Corona had another account (089-121021681) opened on June 29, 2011 with an initial amount of P17 million. This was later closed on December 12, 2011, the day that Corona was impeached by the House of Representatives.

Garcia said he has an idea where the P17 million was paid out, but said he had to check documents for verification.

Later in her testimony, PSBank Katipunan branch manager Annabelle Tiongson said the amount was withdrawn by Corona, through his wife Cristina, via a manager’s check.

“I’m not sure if they were already negotiated (such as endorsed to another bank),” she said. She noted, however, that the amount was not used to open another account with the same branch.

Senator-judge Franklin Drilon later asked the branch to check if Christina had accounts there.

Defense lawyer Tranquil Salvador said the accounts were terminated because the money belonged to Basa Guidote Enterprises Inc. (BGEI), a company owned by Mrs. Corona’s relatives.

In total, the 3 accounts had around P37 million in cash, which the defense earlier said was BGEI’s receivable from an expropriation case in Manila.

Caucus

Senator-judge Pia Cayetano asked how the impeachment court could appreciate the closure of the accounts on the day of Corona’s impeachment. “It’s outside the coverage of Article 2, so how do we treat this?”

Article refers to the non-disclosure of Corona’s SALNs.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the question will be discussed in a caucus on Monday.

Lead counsel Serafin Cuevas then took the floor, noting that the witnesses were being “bulldozed” with questions in order to reveal accounts that had not been mentioned by the prosecution.

Enrile said, however, that it was the PSBank officers themselves who introduced the information.

“But these are deposits made after the filing of the complaint…We’re raising a point that is very material. If you examine the complaint, the SALNs [asked] were only until 2010. After that is not covered in the information [complaint],” Cuevas said. Government officials have yet to file their 2011 SALNs.

Enrile said, “when it’s your turn to present evidence, you can traverse as to why the assets in 2010 were not included in the 2010 SALN and why they arose only in 2011.”

Cuevas insisted the subject matter is no longer within the coverage of the prosecution’s complaint. He also said the defense is not precluded from seeking “available remedies” for the Chief Justice in connection with the issue.

Corona’s withdrawal of 3 bank accounts a sign of guilt, say prosecutors

By Karen Boncocan
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—The withdrawal of more than P30 million from three Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) time deposit accounts under Chief Justice Renato Corona’s name showed his guilt, spokespersons of the prosecution panel said on Thursday.

“Flight is always an evidence of guilt,” Marikina Representative Romero Quimbo said of the bank accounts all terminated on December 12, 2011, the date Corona was impeached.

Aurora Representative Juan Edgardo Angara said withdrawal of the amounts inside the accounts could have meant “many things (like) preparing for the impeachment” which Quimbo termed “paglilimas. Withdrawing P35 million raises a lot of questions.”

Angara said that as the chief magistrate’s wife Cristina Corona had been an official of Camp John Hay, she should have filed a statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth, and since she had not, they assumed her husband’s was a joint SALN.

He further explained that assets of his wife and children should have been declared, including the P34 million worth check purportedly owned by Basa Guidote.

Another spokesman, Quezon Representative Lorenzo Tanada III asked why, if the check had been “in trust for the company”, was it not transferred from the chief justice’s account after some time.

Quimbo said that they were excited to learn of the reasons for the termination of the accounts, saying that the respondent had tried “to cover this up with as many stories as they can.”

Tanada supported Quimbo’s assumption that Corona’s flight was a sign of guilt and added “the impeachment was already there, he had to move.”

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Corona bank accounts info authentic, says PSBank president

MANILA, Philippines – Information in a contested document from the prosecution team regarding bank accounts of Chief Justice Renato Corona is authentic, Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) President Pascual Garcia III said Thursday.

“The info is authentic but between Annex A (bank signature card from prosecution) and the original, the way some of the information [are] indicated are different,” he told Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, presiding officer of the impeachment court.

“Those discrepancies are simply discrepancies but the rest are authentic reproduction of the docs in your possession,” Enrile said.

Garcia earlier confirmed that 10 peso and dollar accounts indicated in the bank document exist.

PSBank Katipunan branch manager Anabelle Tiongson, who was grilled by senator-judges on Monday, earlier described the document from the prosecution as “fake: because it has some differences with the original document the bank has.”

Senator-judge Jinggoy Estrada, however, said Tiongson may have only been “nervous” during her first time in the witness stand.

Estrada also believes that the PSBank document is not fake.

Garcia revealed 7 more peso-denominated PS Bank accounts of Corona on Thursday, aside from 5 accounts presented in a previous hearing.

Three of the bank accounts, one containing around P17 million, were closed on December 12, 2011 — the day he was impeached by the House of Representatives.

This drew suspicion from Estrada. “Ayokong mag-isip ng malisya pero nagsususpetsa talaga ako,” he said.

Garcia said the bank has information on where the money from closed accounts went.

The Senate impeachment court is issuing subpoenas on bank documents containing information on the closed accounts.

Corona’s lawyers said on Thursday that they will present their side of the story when the proper time comes.

Corona bank accounts closed on same day he was impeached by Congress

16-Feb-12, 3:41 PM | Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, Abigail Kwok and Karl John C. Reyes, InterAksyon.com

Tweet

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE 2 – 5:36 p.m.) All five peso accounts Chief Justice Renato Corona maintained at the Katipunan branch of the Philippine Savings Bank had zero balances as of 2010 or 2011, including two that were closed on December 12 last year, the day he was impeached by the House of Representatives.

This was the testimony of branch manager Annabelle Tiongson on Thursday, Day 19 of the trial on questioning by Senator Sergio Osmena III.

Following is the information in Corona’s peso deposits based on the documents presented by Tiongson:

Account No. 089-121017358
Opening Date: January 26, 2009
Opening Balance: P2,100,000
Closing Date: April 16, 2009
Balance as of December 31, 2010: zero

Account No. 089-121019593
Opening Date: December 22, 2009
Opening Balance: P8,500,000
Closing Date: December 12, 2011
Balance as of December 31, 2010: P12,580,316.56
Balance as of December 31, 2011:  zero

Account No. 089-121020122
Opening Date: March 4, 2010
Opening Balance: P3,700,000
Closing Date: April 23, 2010
Balance as of December 31, 2010: zero

Account No. 089-121021681
Opening Date: September 1, 2010
Opening Balance: P7,090,099.45
Closing Date: December 12, 2011
Balance as of December 31, 2010: P7,100,00
Balance as of December 31, 2011: zero

Account No. 089-121011957
Opening Date: May 16, 2007
Opening Balance: P2,000,000
Closing Date: October 2, 2008
Balance as of December 31, 2007: P5,018,255.56
Balance as of December 31, 2008: zero

Reacting to the information on the two accounts closed on December 12, Aurora Representative Juan Edgardo Angara, one of the prosecution spokesmen, said these were “worth looking into.”

“Is it just a coincidence that he took out his money of December 12?” Angara asked.

Meanwhile, PSBank president Pascual Garcia III, who also took the witness stand, voluntarily disclosed that Corona had two other accounts, both time deposits, including one that he closed also on December 12 last year.

“There is another account under the name of Renato Coronado Corona under Account No. 089121023848, (a) peso time deposit with an opening date of June 29, 2011 and an opening balance of P17 million, (which) was closed and terminated on December 12, 201,” Garcia said.

On the other hand, Account No. 089-121021444 was opened on July 23, 2010 with an opening balance of P7,370,438.65 and closed September 1 the same year.

Sought for an explanation on the closure of Corona’s accounts on the same day he was impeached, spokesmen for his defense explained that the Chief Justice had to do so to avoid the impression the money was his.

Lawyer Tranquil Salvador III said the money belonged to Basa-Guidote, the corporation owned by the family of Corona’s wife, Cristina.

But Salvador gave no other details, saying they would explain the matter more in the future.

PS Bank bares solon’s attempt to enlist help on Corona accounts

By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net

Quezon City Representative Jorge Banal. congress.gov.ph photo

MANILA, Philippines – Quezon City Representative Jorge Banal has been invited to appear before the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, after he allegedly approached an official of the Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) inquiring about bank accounts of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

On Senator Loren Legarda’s prodding, PSBank branch manager Anabelle Tiongson revealed that she was approached by the congressman last Jan. 31, 2012.

“There was a certain person who approached me. He went to the branch,” Tiongson said.

And when Legarda asked who she referring to, Tiongson said, “Congressman Banal.”

Tiongson said Banal sought her help “to guide on certain items” but she turned him down.

“He did not ask me to produce anything. He presented sort of the photocopies,” she said.

“He presented himself, he introduced himself. He said that maybe I could help personally, in my capacity and then I said ‘I’m sorry that’s not possible.’”

Asked by Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile what help the congressman was asking from her, Tiongson said, “Just a guide on certain items, on the documents he was showing.”

“It wasn’t really clear what he wanted from me. He was just asking if I could guide him through the documents,” she said.

The documents she was referring to was a photocopy of specimen signature card of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

“But he was partly covering it so I couldn’t see everything,” Tiongson said, saying the congressman was holding a two-page document.

The bank official said the congressman even asked her about a dollar sign.

“What is this? Is this a dollar sign? Something like that. And then when I said I can’t help him, he just left,” Tiongson said.

Tiongson said she asked Banal how he got the documents and the congressman supposedly said, “I will tell you as soon as you help us. Something like that.”

Pressed by Enrile what the exact words of the congressman were, Tiongson quoted Banal as saying “If you help us, I can’t tell you.”

Tiongson said she asked Banal how he got the documents and the congressman supposedly said, “So many people are helping us.”

It was Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who moved to subpoena Banal. But when the Senate resumed after a short break, it reconsidered its ruling and decided to invite, instead of subpoena, the congressman, citing parliamentary courtesy between the two houses of Congress.

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Rep. Jorge Banal

Impeachment court stuck on Article II as probe of Corona bank accounts deepens

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