THE Supreme Court yesterday issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoining the Senate impeachment court from requiring Philippine Savings Bank to produce records of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s foreign currency accounts.

Voting 8-5, the High Court granted Corona’s petition seeking to stop the impeachment court from compelling PSBank to publicly disclose Corona’s dollar deposits.

The High Tribunal however failed to resolve Corona’s other motion which urges the bench to stop his ongoing impeachment trial at the Senate.

The court failed to come up with a temporary restraining order against the Senate proceeding.

Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez said the prayer for the issuance of a TRO was not resolved after the ponente (writer) to whom the case was raffled off, Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco, inhibited from the case.

Marquez said Velasco cited as reason the fact that his son, Lord Allan Velasco, is a member of the House of Representatives.

Those who voted for the issuance of the TRO on the Corona dollar accounts were justices Teresita Leonardo de Castro, Arturo Brion, Roberto Abad, Lucas Bersamin, Jose Perez, Martin Villarama Jr., Bienvenido Reyes, and Jose Mendoza.

Justices Antonio Carpio, Mariano del Castillo, Maria Lourdes Sereno, Diosdado Peralta, and Estela Perlas-Bernabe dissented.

Marquez said the justices who agreed to issue the TRO were of the belief that requiring PSBank to disclose the Chief Justice’s dollar deposits would violate the law on non-disclosure of foreign accounts.

Corona took no part in yesterday’s hearing, and since the chief justice inhibited, Carpio presided over the hearing.

On Corona’s main prayer to stop the entire impeachment proceeding, Marquez said the SC instead required the Senate to comment within 10 days.

Marquez said Corona’s plea for a TRO against the impeachment trial will be raffled off to another justice today.

“There is no justice to resolve the TRO (against the trial) but this will be properly resolved once the case is raffled off to another justice,” Marquez said.

Also, Marquez disclosed that the SC will come up with impeachment guidelines concerning subpoenas requiring the SC to produce documents, and compelling justices to appear before the Senate.    

One of the prosecutors, Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, said he is considering filing a resolution seeking to impeach for encroachment the eight justices who voted to issue the TRO.

Fariñas said he will consult House leaders and majority lawmakers in filing impeachment case.

“I will ask their opinion first, but if you will ask me it is just proper to file one because they are already meddling in the affairs of a co-equal branch of government,” Fariñas said in an interview.

Fariñas accused the high court of protecting Corona, and that out of “delicadeza” justices should not meddle with Congress.         

BPI account

Another Corona bank account containing deposits amounting to millions of pesos  was disclosed yesterday in the impeachment trial.

Bank of the Philippine Island Ayala Branch Manager Leonora Dizon yesterday testified before the Senate impeachment court where she presented documents on ending balance as of December 31, 2010 amounting to P12,024,067.70.

Dizon confirmed that Account Number 1445-8030-61 checking account belongs to Corona and was opened sometime in 1989.

Based on the documents presented, Dizon said that the account has an ending balance of P149,767.36, P153,395.12, P5 million; P1.5 million; P678,501.83 and P12 million, in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008,2009 and 2010 respectively.

Earlier, Philippine Savings Bank president Pascual Garcia III testified that Corona has five bank accounts two of which have millions of pesos in deposits.

The two accounts, 089-121021681 and 089-121019593, have ending balance as of December 31, 2010, of P7.1 million and P12. 5 million respectively.

In 2010, Corona had a total bank deposits of P31 million in the two banks, however, he only declared P3.5 million in his 2010 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth. With Jester P. Manalastas