MANILA, Philippines—Prosecution spokesperson and Marikina Representative Romero “Miro” Quimbo on Thursday urged the officials of the Philippine Savings Bank to comply with the subpoena of the impeachment court and present the bank records required of them.
“Sana maging bukas ang PS Bank but this is beyond the interest of a single corporation,” said Quimbo.
He said that doubts on the authenticity of the “leaked” bank record they attached with their request for subpoena only fueled the need to have the bank comply with the impeachment court’s order.
He explained that the Senate, sitting as impeachment court, discussed and weighed their decision to issue the subpoena and that it was “exercising its highest constitutional duties to hold the Chief Justice accountable… in spite of the risks.”
“If [Corona] is not hiding anything, we see no reason why he should resist,” Quimbo said.
Another spokesperson of the prosecution panel, Aurora Representative Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, also retorted that just because the source of the bank document was considered illegal did not mean it could not be presented before the impeachment court.
House Deputy Speaker Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada, citing the revised penal code’s article 11, said that a lawful order from a court was enough to clear a witness of any criminal liability. He also aired worries that the Foreign Currency Deposit Unit Act of 1974 may be abused by persons who want to hide unexplained wealth.
Quimbo said that if the impeachment court granted their request, to subpoena not only certifications of the bank accounts but also information on the monthly transactions of the chief magistrate’s bank accounts from 2004, they might be able to discover if the respondent acquired other assets which he may have not declared in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).