Umali stands by 'small lady' story

MANILA, Philippines - A member of the House prosecution team in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona is standing by his story that a “small lady” handed him documents on the alleged dollar accounts of the chief magistrate.

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali issued the pronouncement after a branch manager of Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) told the impeachment court on Monday that Corona’s purported bank documents in the possession of the prosecution team were fake.

The prosecution had used the documents as attachments to its request for subpoena on witnesses.

“In the interest of fairness, I should be shown the footages so I can assess. I stand by my story that there was a small lady. That is what I am only asking the impeachment court,” Umali said in an interview with ANC News Channel, referring to a request that he be shown the Feb. 2 recording of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the Senate premises.

On Monday, Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III said the CCTV recording showed no image of any “small lady” handing documents to Umali.

The Oriental Mindoro congressman said there might be some areas at the Senate complex not covered by the CCTV. “I don’t recall where in particular it happened,” he said, adding politicians normally receive documents and don’t check them right away.

“As a prosecutor I have to do my job. I was confronted with the document…what is contemptuous with my act? It is my duty as a prosecutor. The issue here is the impeachment of Corona; these are side issues,” he insisted.

Taking the witness stand last Monday, PSBank Katipunan branch manager Annabelle Tiongson said the bank documents were fake, following intense questioning from Senate President and impeachment court presiding officer Juan Ponce Enrile.

There was, however, some confusion about her testimony, since she was testifying about Corona’s peso accounts, not dollar accounts. She did not bring with her any documents on Corona’s dollar accounts, saying these were not covered by the Senate subpoena.

The prosecution had claimed the foreign currency deposit account of Corona had an initial deposit of “$700K,” which it interpreted to be $700,000 based on the purported bank records.

In peso terms, the amount was P38 million in October 2008, the time the account was opened. 

“We stand by our documents. They cannot be fake because they were very, very and super accurate,” lead prosecutor Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. of Iloilo told reporters.

“We identified 10 bank accounts of the Chief Justice containing peso and dollar deposits based on the photo copies of bank records we received from an anonymous source. All 10 accounts were confirmed by the president of Philippine Savings Bank,” he said.

He said five of the 10 were peso accounts, while the other five are dollar accounts.

He said based on the testimony of PSBank president Pascual Garcia III before the Senate impeachment court last week, two of the peso accounts held P19.6 million as of Dec. 31, 2010, while the other three had been closed.

Tupas said Tiongson was just forced to claim before the impeachment tribunal on Monday that the documents in the prosecution’s possession were “fake.”

“She could not admit that our documents were copies of originals that the Katipunan branch is keeping because that would be admitting that there was a leakage, and the law attaches penalties for leaking bank records,” he stressed.

He added that the prosecution attached the photocopies of what appeared to be documents relating to Corona’s deposits “because we wanted to be truthful and not lie about them.”

The photocopies the prosecution received included two specimen signatures and customer identification cards, a page of Corona’s passport showing his photograph, and an Application and Agreement for Deposit Account (AADA).

One signature card dated Oct. 31, 2008 covered at least two dollar time deposits and five peso accounts. It indicated that Corona is both the account holder and authorized signatory.

Another specimen signature card names Corona’s son-in-law Constantino Castillo III and his wife Ma. Carla Beatrice Eugenia Corona as account holders but with the Chief Justice as the authorized signatory. It covers a single dollar account. The signature card is dated April 16, 2007.

The AADA covers five dollar accounts with the Chief Justice as the account holder. The document indicates that it was “updated as of July 20, 2007.”

The prosecution counted a total of 14 peso and dollar accounts based on the photocopies of bank documents, but the impeachment court agreed to subpoena the records of only five peso and five dollar deposits.

The SC, through a temporary restraining order, has stopped the impeachment tribunal from examining Corona’s dollar accounts.

Prosecution panel spokesman Rep. Miro Quimbo of Marikina also insisted it was a small lady who gave Umali the documents at the Senate premises. But he said Umali was not sure whether the documents were given inside or outside the Senate building.

Quezon Rep. Erin Tañada, another prosecution spokesman, said Garcia had confirmed the existence of the 10 accounts of the Chief Justice with PSBank. Tañada said that in contrast to Tiongson’s testimony, Garcia did not claim that the prosecution’s documents were fake.

“He claimed that there were some differences between the originals in the bank’s possession and the photocopies, though he did not say what those differences were. If indeed there were differences, that means that there were similarities,” he said.

He added that the issue on the authenticity of the prosecution’s documents would be settled when the impeachment court obtains the original documents from PSBank. Tañada also said Tiongson was erratic in her testimony on Monday.

He said the bank manager, answering questions from Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, initially told the impeachment tribunal that the photocopies and the original documents matched.

“She later backtracked and claimed they were fake. She was a confused witness,” he said.

Tañada said senator-judges should not forget that based on the prosecution’s documents, 10 PSBank accounts of Corona were confirmed, that at least two peso accounts held nearly P20 million as of the end of 2010 that the Chief Justice did not declare this in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth. “Add to the P20 million the more than P12 million that the Chief Justice had with Bank of Philippine Islands as of the end of 2010,” he said.