PS Bank exec linked to lead prosecutor

MANILA, Philippines – The manager of the Philippine Savings Bank branch in Katipunan, Quezon City may have a link with Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr., lead prosecutor in the ongoing impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

This surfaced when Senator-Judge Jose “Jinggoy Estrada” asked whether Annabelle Tiongson, who also hails from Iloilo, was acquainted with any relative of Tupas.

When Tiongson responded in the negative, Estrada revealed that Tiongson’s cousin, Obet Buenaflor Armada, was vice governor of Iloilo when, Niel Tupas Sr., father of the incumbent lawmaker, was governor. Tiongson’s middle name is Buenaflor.

Tiongson took the witness stand after Leonora Dizon, branch manager of the Bank of the Philippine Islands on Ayala Avenue, failed to appear because she gave birth early Wednesday.

Tiongson countered that she has been living in Manila since her college days, circa late 1980s, and that the last time she visited Iloilo was in 2010 to attend a high school class reunion.

Estrada again asked if Tiongson personally knew Representative Tupas.

She said: “We were never introduced.”

“The link between your family and Representative Tupas ay [is] obvious na obvious, but now you are claiming that you don’t know any member of their family. It’s quite absurd,” Estrada said.

The Senate, acting as an impeachment court, is hearing testimony to determine the authenticity of the peso bank documents allegedly belonging to Corona that were leaked to the prosecution.