SC expects Senate action on Corona's dollar accounts

Monday, February 13, 2012

MANILA (Updated) -- Supreme Court (SC) Justices had anticipated the Senate impeachment court's action to keep the confidentiality of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s dollar accounts at the Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank).

SC spokesperson Midas Marquez made the statement on Monday as the senators voted to abide by the High Court ruling issued last week despite the alleged P100-million bribe offered by Malacañang to each senator to defy the temporary restraining order (TRO).

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"The court welcomes the position taken by the Senate. It was an order issued by the court and the court was actually expecting that it will be complied with," he said.

Marquez has yet to talk to the Chief Justice on the results of the voting, where 13 senators, including presiding officer and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, upheld the court's move to intervene in the impeachment proceedings.

Voting 13-10, the impeachment court decided to hold in abeyance its subpoena on Corona's dollar-account records.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said, however, that the Senate reserves the right "to vigorously defend" the basis for the subpoena it issued last week.

Enrile said the Senate asserts that it has the sole power to try and hear impeachment cases and that respecting the SC order does not take away its right "to defend the legal and public policy basis underlying the subpoenas."

Senators Joker Arroyo, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Manuel Villar Jr., Ralph Recto, Francis Escudero, Aquilino Pimentel III, Loren Legarda, Gregorio Honasan II, Ramon Revilla Jr., and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. voted to abide by the TRO. Senate President Enrile, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, and Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III also voted with the majority.

The senators who voted to disregard the TRO were Senators Franklin Drilon, Sergio Osmena III, Edgardo Angara, Panfilo Lacson, Pia Cayetano, Francis Pangilinan, Antonio Trillanes IV, Manuel Lapid, and Teofisto Guingona III. Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano also voted against obeying the Supreme Court order.

Senator-judges’ arguments

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who made her position known even before the Senate went into a caucus, said Monday the Senate must heed the TRO because "the impeachment court is not almighty, not absolute, not illimitable, and not more supreme than the Supreme Court."

She added forcing PSBank to reveal Corona's records without a written consent as required by the Foreign Currency Deposit Act would be a violation of that law.

"The lawmakers should not be the lawbreakers. Instead, the lawmakers should, if necessary, amend the law," she said.

But doing so would also violate Corona's rights. "It has been said that the individual right at risk in an impeachment trial is a federal judge’s potential loss of position, including the independence he or she is guaranteed," she said.

Senator Francis Escudero, considered an ally of the Aquino administration, voted to uphold the TRO.

He said he did not agree with it being issued but that the proper place to argue that would be before the Supreme Court.

"When we speak of morality and doing what is right, I'm of the firm belief that in our search for the truth, this does not in any way give us any right to violate the law," he said.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, meanwhile, said the country cannot afford to have a constitutional crisis by having the Senate and Supreme Court clash.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV voted against recognizing the TRO, saying it was an illegal order as far as he was concerned.

"The issue we face is not a constitutional crisis, but a moral crisis. On one hand, the Supreme Court, which through their TRO, threw the concept of judicial restraint out of the window and intervened in the affairs of the Senate as an impeachment court to protect and cover up for one of their own," he said.

He added that he will stand by the majority decision, but that the decision to obey the Supreme Court was a missed opportunity "to stand on a moral high ground in this issue."

"This TRO, in my uncomplicated mind, that of a soldier, is an unlawful order," he said.

Senator Teofisto Guingona III, for his part, warned that failing to open Corona's dollar account would lead to a "bankruptcy of accountability."

"The concern is this: There is another petition for a TRO at the Supreme Court today. What will stop the court from issuing a second TRO? Or a third? A fourth?" he said.

Voting 8-5, the SC justices last week took into consideration the PSBanks' citation of the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 6426, or the Foreign Currency Deposit Act of the Philippines, which bars the banks to divulge contents of the accounts without the written permission of the depositor.

Citing Intengan vs Court of Appeals, the SC ruled in February 15, 2002 that if the accounts in question are US dollar deposits, the applicable law should be RA 6426.

The court sustained this position in Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) vs 15th division of Court of Appeals last June 8, 2011, when the justices ruled that Westmont Bank cannot be forced to disclose the dollar deposits of Domsat Holdings Inc.

"The written consent under RA 6426 constitutes a waiver of the depositor's right to privacy in relation to such deposit. In the present case, neither the prosecution nor the Impeachment Court has presented any such written waiver by the alleged depositor, Chief Justice Renato C. Corona. Also, while impeachment may be an exception to the secrecy of bank deposits under RA 1405 (Law on Secrecy of Bank Deposits), it is not an exemption to the absolute confidentiality of foreign deposits," the SC's TRO obtained by Sun.Star read.

For his part, Associate Justice Arturo Brion said in his concurring opinion that the stay order was also a way to prevent a possible bank run, a situation where traders and other depositors withdraw their accounts.

"The bank's failure in its obligation -- given the media coverage and the non-legal slant it can give -- gives rise to a real danger that the bank's reputation may suffer. In a very bad situation, the effect goes beyond the bank's reputation and can adversely affect the economy," Brion said in his 10-page opinion.

Corona's lawyers said the Chief Justice's dollar deposits will be disclosed before the senator-judges in "due time" even as Malacañang expressed hope for conviction.

"The Senate has categorically stated evidence on peso accounts has been validly produced. As more evidence of this nature is produced, it can only underscore how the Chief Justice willfully broke the law," presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a statement.

Corona maintained, however, that he has not amassed ill-gotten wealth as repeatedly accused by the prosecutors from the House of Representatives.

"To the prosecution team, I do know my law. I have not broken any law. I have no liability to the people and to the government. What my wife and I have is the fruit of hard and honest work for which all taxes have been fully paid," he said.

He also accused President Benigno Aquino III of committing an impeachable offense "when he came out swinging by openly urging the senator-judges to disobey the Constitution he has personally sworn to uphold."

Corona failed to elaborate.

He maintained that he was a stumbling block to Aquino, who wanted to stop the distribution of Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac to the 4,915 farmer-beneficiaries.

The farmer-beneficiaries had feared that Corona's possible removal might pave the way for the reversal of the November 22 resolution that ordered the land distribution and junked the stock distribution option.

This scheme, according to the High Court, would result in inequity and prejudice to the farm workers as they will remain the minority stockholders of the estate owned by the relatives of the President.

Not a victory for Corona

The House prosecution panel said the Senate's decision to respect the injunction issued by the Supreme Court does not translate into a victory for the Chief Justice and his lawyers.

Representatives Romero Frederico Quimbo, Juan Edgardo Angara and Lorenzo Tanada III, spokespersons for the prosecution team, stressed that the 13-10 vote in favor of honoring the TRO is not an indication of how voting will be when it comes to the evidence presented.

"It's not even a victory on how Senate will rule on the case – on whether to acquit or convict (Corona)," Quimbo said.

Quimbo added that while the prosecution team respects the decision of the Senate sitting as an impeachment court, it should be noted that it might set a precedent if the SC rules in favor of the Chief Justice in his petition to declare the impeachment proceedings as “null and void”.

Tañada added the Senate decision would have completed the prosecution's story on Article 2 of the impeachment complaint -- Corona’s non-disclosure of his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

Citing documents contributed by a "small lady", the prosecution earlier alleged Corona of having dollar accounts at the PSBank. One of the accounts, they said, was opened with an initial deposit of $700,000.

Corona is presumed to have close to P32 million in three peso accounts -- two in PSBank and one in the Bank of the Philippine Islands – in December 2010. Corona only declared P3.5-million cash for the same year.

Meanwhile, the prosecution's spokespersons who are also members of the House of Representatives pushed for the approval of a measure that would amend Foreign Currency Deposit Act of 1974. This was the same law cited by the SC in the issuance of a TRO. It said disclosure of dollar accounts is not provided under the law.

“We hope this will pass in the 15th Congress,” Quimbo said.

A bill filed by ACT Teachers party-list Representative Antonio Tinio allows examination of foreign currency deposits “in cases of impeachment, or upon order of a competent court in cases of bribery or dereliction of duty of public officials, or in cases where the money deposited or invested is the subject matter of the litigation.” (Virgil Lopez/Jonathan de Santos/Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)