Senate denies Corona petition to quash subpoena on PS Bank exec

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate, acting as the impeachment court, denied the motion to quash the subpoena on an officer of Philippine Savings Bank filed by Chief Justice Renato Corona.

“Since the bank account is a peso account, the chair reiterates its ruling that our purpose here is to find out of the respondent has not included in his SALN [statement of assets, liabilities and networth], if it is removed from the ambit of the temporary restraining order given by the Supreme Court, it is open for examination,” said Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, presiding senator-judge.

The defense panel filed the motion to quash the subpoena for Annabelle Tiongson, branch manager of PS Bank in Katipunan, Quezon City on Tuesday. During Monday’s hearing, Tiongson admitted that Corona opened five different peso time deposit accounts in the bank from 2007 to 2010.

However, when asked if the photocopied document presented by the prosecution allegedly containing bank details of Corona’s bank accounts were legitimate photocopies of authentic PS Bank documents, Tiongson said she could not confirm.