2 lawmakers may face ethics probe over 'leaked' bank documents

Thursday, February 23, 2012

TWO members of the House of Representatives may face separate ethics investigation for possible violation of the Bank Secrecy Law, a minority bloc lawmaker said.

It was learned during the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona that Oriental Mindoro Representative Reynaldo Umali, a public prosecutor, and Quezon City Representative Jorge "Bolet" Banal, a member of the prosecution's secretariat, had copies of documents pertaining to the bank accounts of the Supreme Court (SC) official.

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"We will just concentrate on Banal and Umali who apparently violated the Bank Secrecy Law by providing these fake documents in the impeachment," Isabela Representative Rodolfo Albano said.

Minority Leader Danilo Suarez said they will decide on Monday if they will pursue a complaint to be filed in the House committee on ethics. A member of the minority bloc heads the said committee.

Banal said he got his copy from an anonymous source. The one-page document was left in the railings of his house's gate last month.

According to the testimony of the Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) Katipunan branch manager, Banal tried to verify the contents of the document with her.

Umali, meanwhile, said he received the same document from a "small lady". The document was used in the prosecution's request to subpoena Corona's bank records.

The opposition bloc said an investigation is necessary since the actions of the two lawmakers have been affecting the image and credibility of the House of Representatives.

"That is why we will be asking the House ethics committee to look into their culpability for dragging the good name of the entire House of Representatives into this disorderly behavior," Suarez said.

The Bank Secrecy Law prohibits the disclosure of information on deposits except in cases of impeachment or upon the written permission of the depositor.

Zambales Representative Mitos Magsaysay, another member of the minority, said that the law is very clear with regard to bank confidentiality and the fact that the prosecution was able to get their hands on faithful reproductions of the original documents could cause alarm among banking industry stakeholders and depositors.

"Possessing documents of a confidential nature is in itself a violation of the law. Saying that it came from an anonymous source does not help and only serves to muddle the waters even more. Authorities should get to the bottom of the matter because if not, the same could happen to everyone and the credibility of the banking industry will be put at risk," she said.

Magsaysay said that should doubts continue to haunt the security and confidentiality of bank deposits, this might cause a bank run, or a mass withdrawal of deposits and result in bankruptcy and irreparable losses. (Sunnex)