By JOSEPH HOLANDES UBALDE
InterAksyon.com
PHILIPPINE Savings Bank President Pascual Garcia III’s refusal to divulge information on the contested deposit account of Chief Justice Renato Corona on Thursday tested the senator-judges’ patience and eventually pushed them to summon the bank manager privy to the information.
Garcia irked Sen. Franklin Drilon and even Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile for repeatedly dodging questions pertaining to Corona’s deposit account.
Drilon was only able to pry from Pascual that the account was opened in 2009, but the bank official would not say how much the initial deposit was.
Drilon then asked if Garcia could bring the information on the opening account in the next hearing, but the bank official said he will bring the documents only specified by the court subpoeana.
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada stepped in and called Garcia “incompetent to answer” and said the senator-judges should just invite PSBank Katipunan branch manager Annabelle Tiongson.
“Since you are the boss, tell your bank manager to come here on February 13 at 2 p.m.,” Enrile ordered Garcia.
Earlier, Corona’s legal counsel asked the impeachment court to prohibit the presentation of documents alleging his misuse of judicial funds on the purchase of several items by his wife.
In a seven-page motion, Corona’s camp said the subpoeana was “irrelevant” and “immaterial” as evidence to the trial. He was reacting to an order from the Senate impeachment court to Rustan Commercial Corp. and Design Exchange Inc. to turn over several receipts under the name of Corona’s wife, Cristina, totalling to P107,140.73.
According to Corona’s counsel, the receipts were not mentioned in Article III of the impeachment case, which only states that the Chief Justice “betrayed the public trust.”
“Nowhere in Art. III is there any statement of ultimate facts that refer to the use of judicial funds for personal expenditures,” the motion, penned by lawyer Jose Roy, read.
It added that while the discussion on Article III alludes to misuse of funds, “the same neither constitute(s) statements of ultimate facts nor categorical assertions of misconduct.”
Rustan was ordered to turn over a receipt dated June 16, 2011 in the amount of P61,740.73 with an itemized list that included a bridal gift and 19 other items.
The owners of Design Exchange Inc. were asked to bring original and certified true copies of sales invoice dated June 10, 2012 amounting to P20,400 and another dated June 29, 2010 amounting to P25,000.