Posts Tagged ‘Checking Account Promotions 2012’

Salesforce's Free Do.com Doesn't Quite Do It

NEW YORK (MainStreet) — In these brutal, short digital days, it ain’t easy being a “disruptor.” Business automation giants such as Salesforce(CRM) or NetSuite(N) like to act the role of hunters for say, Microsoft(MSFT) or SAP(SAP). But in an age when all it takes to make a great business app is a couple of coders with something to prove, Salesforce and Netsuite are themselves the hunted, challenged to say what they really offer compared with Rapportive, RapidTask or Pivotal Tracker? All of these are cheap, some are free — and they solve most of business’ organizational issues.

To Salesforce’s credit, it is not going down without a fight. Several months back, the company rolled out its answer to low- or no-cost business software, Do.com. The free service offers basic task management to anybody with Web access and offers users all the hip, biz-app bells and whistles. It has solid integration with mobile devices such as the iPhone, tries to be a viral alternative to traditional business apps and to give Salesforce a toehold in the fast-moving free business apps world.

For Salesforce.com, faced with a time of terrific competition, it is do or die with Do.com.

Intrigued as to what Do had to offer firms, we have been giving it a test drive for about a month or so.

What you get

Do.com is nice little team task-management tool.

To Salesforce’s credit, the company has wisely jettisoned its traditional, complex interface, and Do.com could not be simpler to use. Think of a souped-up version of Basecamp, the fast-growing project management service from Chicago-based 37Signals, but absolutely free. Creating an account is a snap. Head to the company Web site — the impossible-to-forget do.com (no “www” is not needed). Create a free account. Then start listing tasks, creating projects and adding notes.

Once your work is broken down into steps, Do.com enables reasonable collaboration. Enter an email for those who work in your team and they get invitations to tasks. Notes, attachment and decent discussions about tasks are supported. Overall, the service was fast and easy to use. The mobile app on my test iPad worked reasonably well.

In general, if your shop is looking for a solid starter productivity tool, Do.com can do the job.

Networking Tricks for Women Owners

Want to grow your business? Do what men do. Have big networks filled with people who can connect you to money, markets and talent.

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At this point in history, men entrepreneurs (on average) are more successful than women entrepreneurs (on average) at growing their businesses. To be as successful as the boys, you don’t have to grow a pair. But you do have to do something you can do but that many women entrepreneurs don’t: Build your network. If the thought of mingling brings back bad memories of being a wallflower at the senior prom, get over it. That was then, this is business.

In case you doubt the importance and value of networking, the proof is in the research. Entrepreneurs with larger and more diverse networks, and whose networks include professional advisers, such as accountants and lawyers, tend to grow bigger companies, according to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: 2010 Women’s Report.

The analysis showed that, in many economies, women entrepreneurs and business owners tended to have smaller networks than their male counterparts…Both women and men entrepreneurs and business owners tended to seek advice most often from those with whom they had personal relationships—their private environment. Women were more inclined to seek guidance from family and spouses in particular. On the other hand, men tended to draw more heavily on the advice of friends. Men were also more likely to use other network sources, such as their work environment or professional advisers.

Overall, the men and women entrepreneurs who had larger and more diverse networks, and those who emphasized non-private advisers (business, professional, etc.) also tended to report greater levels of innovation, internationalization and growth-expectations. Yet compared to men, women may be at a disadvantage because their networks were overall smaller and less diverse and they emphasized private sources of advice.

In other words, women: You must get out there and network. You must build up your contacts among peers and professionals. If you don’t, you are stunting your growth.

Even Jazmin Hubb who organizes Women 2.0 Founder Friday events in New York City admitted “I don’t like networking events,” but warned, “You don’t have a choice. As an entrepreneur, you have to do a lot of things you don’t like and this is one of them … You can’t do it alone [be a successful entrepreneur]. Networking is one of the ways to find those other people.”

Connections open doors, doors to money, markets and qualified managers and employees.

1. Pick your venue. There are plenty to choose from. If you don’t like the vibe of one organization’s events, try another. You can choose gender-specific hosted events such as Women 2.0 Founder Friday or the National Association of Women Business Owners, industry specific organizations, such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or general business groups such as Chambers of Commerce.
2. Know your elevator pitch. You are not here to make a sale, so you don’t need to close the deal. You do need to let people know who you are and what you do in a way that makes them want to hear more.
3. Ask questions. Women are great at building closeness and connections through conversation. By asking questions you’ll engage the person and really get to know what they do. Still not comfortable? Pretend you are interviewing people for an article about the event; get the who, what, and why. Make the task less personal.
4. Speak to lots of people. To network well, Hubb advises that you have a brief conversation with one person and move on to the next. Make it a game: How many business cards can you collect in one hour? Work with a friend: the one with the most gets a free lunch.
5. Go ready to give. Hubb also cautions people not to come with the goal of getting something. Give something first. Don’t worry about the quid pro quo. In her experience, the benefit of helping may not come immediately, but it will in six months to a year.
6. Follow up afterwards. If you want to get to know someone better, follow up after the meeting with a phone call, a one-on-one meeting or connect with them on LinkedIn. Hubb mentioned that follow-up is the step most commonly skipped.
7. Take the pressure off. You aren’t establishing a long-term relationship yet. You are just opening the door to possible relationships. If someone seems interesting, contact them later to get started on that relationship.

All of these ideas serve one purpose, to take the focus off you—nerve-wracking!—and put it on the other people—interesting! Look past the crowd of strangers and see the individuals, some of whom can help you and some of whom you can help.

Geri Stengel is the founder of Ventureneer.com, which connects socially responsible businesses with the knowledge needed to make the world better while thriving as businesses. As an owner herself, she understands the unique challenges women face when growing their businesses beyond $1 million. @ventureneer

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David: How I'm Turning My Product Into a Service Bruce: How I'm Turning My Service Into a Product

Find out how Inc. 5000 CEOs seek smart ways to scale their businesses

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How I Did It!

Experts frequently advise business owners who manufacture products to turn them into “services” so they can create a smoother cash flow. They also tell people who sell services to turn them into products so they have an asset to sell in the future. Which one is right? 

Meet David Harouche, the Inc. 5000-winning CEO of a product company who’s transitioning to a service-based model.

Meet Bruce Eckfeldt, another Inc. 5000 honoree who runs a service-based company that’s beginning to develop products. 

Find out the truth about these two competing strategies from two “on-the-ground” CEOs at this dynamic panel.

Event to be held at Inc. Magazine’s Downtown Manhattan HQ.
Space is limited. Click here to see if you qualify for a complimentary pass.

Lewis Schiff is the chairman and executive director of Inc. Business Owners Council. He is also the author of the book, The Middle-Class Millionaire and has conducted extensive research on high net worth and high-performing households. He can be reached by email, on twitter or by telephone: (800) 536-0046. @lewisschiff

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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. …

Want to Be More Inventive? Think Like a Fifth Grader

A cognitive psychologist has developed a toolkit to help anyone be more inventive by shedding their preconceived ideas and thinking like a kid.

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Every entrepreneur is trying to do something new and better. If your business doesn’t improve in some way on the other dry cleaner in town or other app in the space, then why bother starting it, right? But inventing something truly different is rare—and very difficult. Is there any way those of us with less naturally creative minds can come with more inventive ideas?

Absolutely, says University of Massachusetts cognitive psychologist Anthony McCaffrey, who studies exactly what sort of thinking goes on the minds of inventors and recently published his findings in Psychological Science. Looking back at past “eureka!” moments—such as when someone looked at a burr stuck to a sweater and conceived of Velcro, for example—McCaffrey came up with a model of where out-of-the-box ideas come from.

“There’s a pattern that, during the inventive process, people notice something that was overlooked and then they use that overlooked feature to build a new solution,” McCaffery said in an interview.

“We’re basically geared towards noticing the common things because that’s most helpful in our daily experience. We don’t want to have to figure out how to get a drink of water each time. But if you want to be innovative then your habits are your enemy and you have to fight against doing the common or habitual and know how to get to the obscure things,” he explains.

The evidence from McCaffrey’s lab is that this ability to see the obscure and unusual can be taught, and he’s developed a tool kit to do just that. The techniques in the toolkit, McCaffrey says, are geared towards helping break us out of habitual thinking and return us to the fresh perspective we had when we were young:

If an inventor is stuck on a problem and could simplify it enough to describe it to a class of fifth graders, I would almost guarantee that those fifth graders would give you some new ideas that you have not thought of before.

Young kids are wild thinkers. They make wild associations. But when you get to that range of fourth through sixth grade, their minds are becoming a little more adult. So whereas really young kids will give you impossible answers, magic kind of answers like ‘oh, my pet bunny will breathe on it and it will be fixed,’ the fourth through six graders will have wild ideas but they’ll still be kind of plausible.

[My techniques] are trying to get you back to when you were ten years old now that you’ve lost a little bit of that ability to associate more freely.

Thanks to a $170,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, McCaffrey is developing software to deliver his techniques to engineers specifically. But he claims that those in any sort of creative domain, from marketing to comedy writing, could benefit from his toolkit. So what does it contain? He offered some example techniques:

• The generic-parts technique. Generally we look at an object and simply see the way it’s usually used—a plug goes in a socket to connect an appliance to electric current, and that’s all there is to it. Those looking for fresh ideas should try to strip away their preconceived notions of an object by describing it without reference to its usual function, including its material, shape and size. That plug? It contains two small, flat pieces of metal. Look at it that way and it could be used as a screwdriver, for example. “The trick is to un-conceal the features relevant to your purposes,” McCaffrey says.
• The thesaurus technique. “When you describe your goal, you’re going to have a verb in there like ‘I need to fasten things together’ or ‘I need to remove this from that,’” says McCaffrey. “Use a thesaurus on the verb. I’ve asked people, ‘list all the ways you can to fasten things together’ and most people come up with eight to 12. However, if you look in a thesaurus for the synonyms of fasten, the more specific ones give you things like, ‘buckle, clip, weld, glue, tie, Velcro’ and on and on. Where people can come up with eight to 10, the thesaurus is going to have 60, and obviously it’s helping you think way beyond your narrow range.”

McCaffrey also recommends those hoping to boost their inventiveness broaden their range of interests. “Have a wide interest in your reading, what you pay attention to, what’s coming out in several fields of your choice,” suggests McCaffrey. “Follow your interests and you naturally can make connections between them that others can’t as easily see.”

Jessica Stillman is a freelance writer based in London with interests in unconventional career paths, generational differences, and the future of work. She has blogged for CBS MoneyWatch, GigaOM, and Brazen Careerist. @EntryLevelRebel

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Math Phobia? Time to Get Over It

These few metrics will give you some added insight into just how much progress your company is making.

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Entrepreneurs routinely ask me what my one or two go-to financial metrics are, beyond the standard revenue, gross margin, net income and cash ratios. I usually demur, saying that business models wildly vary and an effective analytical tool in one sector might not be much use in another. A product company or one that sells perpetual licenses might not be too concerned with its customer churn rate, but a services company might be right to obsess over it.

In truth, I am sympathetic to the interest in innovative metrics. I love baseball and the data deluge associated with what, at first glance, is a simple game. But after decades of building companies, the addiction to detail was replaced by a ravenous hunger to identify the two or three unique levers of control in a business.

As a result, I do have a couple of favorite metrics that I keep an eye on beyond the standards. They by no means capture every angle of a business, and they are fallible, but I find them universally useful in evaluating and comparing companies and their progress. I’ve also highlighted two problem areas that always seem to create confusion.

My favorite metrics:

Revenue per Employee

In most technology companies, gross margins are relatively high and salaries are the biggest single cost. Cost per employee for technology companies in the U.S. is surprisingly consistent at just above $100K. So revenue per employee gives you a very efficient way of comparing overall efficiency of and between businesses.

Revenue per dollar of sales marketing spend

I like to see how much revenue generated by each dollar inserted into the company’s sales and marketing machine.

More particularly, I track the change in this metric quarter-over-quarter, because that shows the rate at which sales and marketing is becoming more efficient (hopefully). Like a golf handicap, rates will differ a lot between, but you still want to beat the course by always getting more efficient.

Problem areas:

Bookings

These days, I see lots of entrepreneurs that have significant sources of recurring revenue. That’s great. However, many entrepreneurs are unsatisfied simply reporting their revenue, because it doesn’t give them credit for the full value of a long-term contract. Some instead report total bookings, which, at the other extreme, can be equally misleading. I always recommend reporting what I call Adjusted Annual Recurring Revenue each quarter (the “AARR”). The AARR is the annual revenue run-rate of your recurring revenue multiplied by your average renewal rate. This gives you a probability-adjusted, annual recurring revenue number that your board can sink its teeth into. It’s nice knowing what you have in the bag for next year!

Revenue Mix

When you’re selling different products or services with different gross margins, or selling both perpetual and term-based licenses, it is essential to explain the effect of the changing mix of revenues and associated costs over time. Most boards, and sometimes management teams, tend to underestimate the significant impact a change in that mix can have on a company’s financial profile. You often see this when a perpetual license software vendor shifts to a software-as-a-service model. Avoid nasty surprises by forecasting carefully.

Harry Weller: Harry focuses on early stage consumer, enterprise and energy technology investing. He is frequently recognized as one of America’s top venture capitalists, with recent honors including the Forbes “Midas List”, Washingtonian’s “Titans of Technology” and Business Insider’s “Top 5 East Coast VCs.”

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Make Your Meetings More Effective

Here’s tips on how to keep groups focused and not waste time from Scott Gerber, founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council, and Adam Toren, co-founder of Small Business BIG Vision.

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)