House opposition presses probe into leakage of Corona bank documents

Rep. Danilo Suarez. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The opposition wants the House of Representatives to conduct a probe into the “serious breach” of bank secrecy laws with the leakage of bank documents of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona that could involve members of the House majority.

House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez said his group would file a resolution this week urging the House committee on banks and financial intermediaries to investigate how Corona’s bank documents from Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) surfaced in the impeachment trial without  Corona’s consent.

Suarez said his group would also ask the committee, chaired by Leyte Representative Sergio Apostol, to look into the conflicting statements of Oriental Mindoro Representative Reynaldo Umali and Quezon City Representative Jorge Banal.

Umali claimed that a “small lady” gave him the bank documents, while Banal said the documents were sent to his house by a concerned citizen.

Suarez said the probe would determine if PSBank and its personnel were liable under the bank secrecy law for leaking details of Corona’s  accounts.

The minority is apparently taking its cue from the Corona defense team which claimed that members of the prosecution panel should be investigated by the House committee on ethics for peddling illegally obtained documents. Gil C. Cabacungan