THE House prosecution panel may face disciplinary action for submitting to the Senate, sitting as impeachment court, supposed fake dollar account documents of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona, Sen.Francis Escudero said yesterday. 

“They can be subject to disciplinary action and contempt or any other penalty by the Senate. Utang kasi ng mga prosecutors at defense -- candor, fairness and truthfulness -- sa korte    although hindi sila under oath,” Escudero said.

He made the remark after Annabel Tiongson, Philippine Savings Bank Katipunan branch manager, Monday night described as fake the photocopied dollar bank documents of Corona that the prosecutors had attached to their motion asking the impeachment court to require concerned PSBank officials to submit the chief magistrate’s dollar bank records.

The prosecution panel had accused Corona of keeping a “secret” $700,000 deposit with PSBank. They wanted to remove Corona as member of the Supreme Court since he allegedly “failed” to indicate in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) in violation of the Constitution.

House prosecutor Rep.Reynaldo Umali had claimed that an unidentified “small lady” turned over the dollar bank papers of Corona last February 9 at the second floor of the Senate building where the impeachment trial is being held.

Umali’s revelation had prompted the Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III to ask the Senate security office to review the Senate’s CCTV (closed circuit television) to determine whether Umali was telling the truth.  

However, Sotto Monday night revealed that according to the report of the Office of the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA), the Senate CCTV “does not capture” any meeting between Umali and a small lady who supposedly gave the dollar bank documents of Corona.

“Maliwanag, ayon kay Senator Sotto mula noong natapos ‘yung impeachment hanggang sa nakasakay ng auto si Congressman Umali ay walang nakikitang lumapit sa kanyang small man o big lady na nagbigay ng envelop,” Escudero said.

“So, kung maliwanag na pinagsinungalingan niya (Umali) ang korte, maaari siyang i-subject to disciplinary action ng korte at kung maliwanag din na sila’y may kinalaman sa paglalabas ng dokumento sa PSBank, paglabag din ‘yan sa Republic Act 1405 o secrecy bank deposit na ang maximum penalty ay limang taon na pagkakakulong,” he said.     

Escudero is curious about the letter “k” entry, right after the $700 figure ($700K) in Corona’s dollar account papers which supposedly represents “thousand”  to indicate $700,000 deposit.

“Hindi namin maintindihan ang pinagbasehan ng prosecution sa pagsabing may ‘$700,000’ si Chief Justice Corona. May entry doon sa opening deposit na nagsasabing ’700K.’ Eh ang ‘K’  ginagamit sa text ‘yan, ‘di ba? Ewan ko kung gagamit  ng ‘K’ ang bangko (sa official bank transaction). Hindi ba 700,000.00 dapat ‘yun at hindi isinasara ng ‘K’ lamang ‘yun? Tila may problema ang ganyang klaseng dokumento,” he added.

Asked whether the senator-judges would hold the prosecution responsible for submitting supposed fake documents, Escudero said: “Hindi namin alam kung saan galing ‘yung dokumento.  Sino ba ang huling may hawak at nag-abot o nagbigay sa amin? Ang hindi ko kasi maintindihan p’wede naman sana isinulat na lang nila sa request for subpoena ang mga bank account numbers (ni Corona).”

He added:”Hindi  nila kailangan i-attach pa ‘yung mga dokumentong ‘yun, pero in-attach pa rin nila.  One more noticeable thing is none of the private prosecutors ang nag-sign ng request of subpoena. Ang pumirma lamang nito ay dalawang public  prosecutors, si Congressman (Niel) Tupas  (Jr.) at saka si Congressman Abaya.” This means that  even the private prosecutors believe that such action may cause some legal problems in the future, Escudero said.