Drilon seeks lifting of TRO on Corona dollar accounts

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Franklin Drilon yesterday urged the Supreme Court (SC) to immediately lift its temporary restraining order (TRO) on the examination of the dollar accounts of Chief Justice Renato Corona by the impeachment court.

Drilon said that the pronouncements made by Corona about his willingness to open the dollar accounts for the court has effectively rendered the action of the SC moot and academic.

“The TRO preventing the opening of dollar accounts of the Chief Justice has, in effect, become moot and academic since Corona said he was willing to divulge his dollar accounts,” Drilon said.

“If the owner of the account is willing to show his bank accounts, including the dollar accounts, why should the Supreme Court do anything to prevent this?” he added.

The SC issued the TRO in response to a petition filed by the Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) after a subpoena was issued by the Senate impeachment court on Corona’s 10 bank accounts.

Five of the 10 accounts pertaining to peso deposits were examined by the court, but for the other five dollar-denominated accounts, PSBank declined to comply with the subpoena citing Republic Act 6426 or the Foreign Currency Deposit Act.

Majority of the senator-judges voted to respect the TRO on the dollar accounts and just examined the peso accounts.

Drilon argued the statements made by Corona about his willingness to open the dollar accounts would allow their examination when trial resumes next week.

“The bone of contention before was that the opening of his dollar accounts would violate the provision of RA 6426, but now, with the recent development, it appears to me that no provision would be violated in case the Senate inquires into his dollar accounts,” Drilon said.

The prosecution panel presented the 10 numbered accounts allegedly owned by Corona at PSBank in a photocopied bank document that it attached to its supplemental request for subpoena to the Senate before the start of the trial last January.

At the time, it was not yet clear which of the 10 accounts were dollar accounts and if they actually existed.

What was indicated in the document was an entry purportedly showing an initial deposit of “$700k,” which the prosecution panel believed to have meant $700,000, or close to P30 million.

The authenticity of the document attached by the prosecution in its supplemental request for subpoena was challenged by PSBank president Pascual Garcia III and the bank’s Katipunan branch manager Annabelle Tiongson, both of whom claimed it was a fake.

However, during the trial, Garcia testified on the existence of all the account numbers listed, including the five dollar accounts.

The prosecution has ended its presentation of witnesses and evidence for three of the eight Articles of Impeachment against Corona.

Since the SC has yet to resolve with finality the petition of PSBank on the dollar accounts, the prosecution informed the impeachment court that it reserves the right to present new evidence related to the dollar accounts in the future.

The defense panel has opposed the entry of the bank accounts as evidence because these were supposedly obtained illegally, were fake and not related to the charges contained in the Articles of Impeachment.

It also opposed the presentation of new evidence because the prosecution has already rested its case and should not be allowed to do so.

By presenting the bank accounts of Corona, the prosecution is hoping to prove that Corona did not declare all of his assets in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) as required by law.