Witness stands by statement over 'fake' documents, denies link to prosecutor

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

MANILA -- The Katipunan branch manager of the Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) stood by her earlier statement that the documents pertaining to the accounts of Chief Justice Renato Corona obtained by the prosecution are fake.

"In a banking practice, if there are differences between the two documents, it's not the same, they're fake," Annabelle Tiongson, PSBank's Katipunan branch manager, said in Filipino.

Tiongson, however, could not specify the differences between the original document and the supposed fake document.

During the resumption of trial Wednesday, senator-judge Jinggoy Estrada also tried to establish the link of Tiongson and lead prosecutor Niel Tupas Jr. Tiongson and Tupas's family are both from Iloilo.

The prosecution earlier said that Corona owns at least 10 accounts in PSBank – five of which are peso accounts and the other five are dollar accounts.

Estrada said Tiongson's first cousin, Roberto "Obet" Buenaflor Armada, was the vice governor of Iloilo when the lead prosecutor's father, Niel Tupas Sr. was the province's governor.

"Obvious na obvious na may acquaintance, magkakilala ang pamilya ninyo at pamilya ni Tupas, and you are now denying that you know even one member of Tupas' family. That is absurd," Estrada told the witness.

Tiongson reiterated that he never personally met Tupas before the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Corona, nor the lead prosecutor's relatives.

Earlier, Tupas denied having maintained an account at the PSBank. This was after Corona's lawyer, Serafin Cuevas, asked if Tupas is "one of the more important clients" of the bank. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)