SENATE President Juan Ponce Enrile is “convinced” that the supposed leakage of the dollar bank documents of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona did not originate from the Philippine Savings Bank where he allegedly keeps $700,000 as alleged by the House prosecution panel.

“I am convinced the leak did not come from the bank. They submitted it by virtue of respecting the authority of the Bangko Sentral (ng Pilipinas) and AMLAC (Anti-Money Laundering Council),” said Enrile as the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, was trying to figure out whether the leak came from either the BSP or the AMLAC. Both institutions reportedly conducted a routine “account audit” of those who keep peso and dollar deposits amounting to P500,000 and $500,000 and above.

“Whether AMLA or the Bangko Sentral was the source of the leak is a conclusion that can be drawn from the questions that I asked,” said Enrile, the impeachment court’s presiding officer. The BSP maintained that they did not access Corona’s dollar bank records while the AMLAC said that it merely asked for a copy of the bank’s clients with dollar accounts.

He justified his intention to trace the leak of the dollar bank documents of Corona because the prosecutors had attached a document that became the basis for his issuance of subpoena to the PS Bank.

However, Pascual Garcia III and Anabelle Tiongson, PS Bank president and Katipunan branch manager, respectively, said that the specimen signature card that the prosecutors had attached in their request before the impeachment court was apparently “fake” or “altered,” in bank parlance.

“Kung pinirmahan ko ang subpoena duces tecum ‘di ko na kinuwestyon ‘yun because I gave credence naman to the House (prosecutors). Pero lumilitaw sabi nung manager ng Katipunan branch ng PS Bank, at nung presidente eh kaiba dun sa original. So, that means na may alterations daw. If it’s not a fake document, at least it is an altered document. The least that I can say about it is it was altered,” Enrile said.

He added: “May kaugnayan ‘yan ngayon sa admissibility of the document as an evidence. Kaya tinanong ko ang security procedure. Who are the handlers of these documents? Sabi nila nakalagay sa vault. Key numbers are given to two persons without the knowledge of the other.”

“One has a number unknown to the other. It takes two to open the vault. Tinanong ko sino pa may access, sabi ng manager alternate siya sa isang officer at may alternate pa ng junior. Pati sa pagta- transfer tinanong ko before. How the document was handled so bakit nagkaroon ng leak?” the Senate chief said.

Asked whether the evidence against Corona will be admitted if it would be proven that it was AMLAC which leaked the chief magistrate’s bank records, Enrile said: “Illegal ‘yun eh. Bawal. The prohibition covers everybody from the President (of the Philippines) down.”

He said that the impeachment court does not intend to summon Rep.Jorge Banal who admitted last week that he got a copy of Corona’s dollar bank papers from anonymous source, two days before the prosecutors asked the senator-judges to require the PS Bank to produce peso and dollar documents of Corona. But he claimed that he did not bother to inform his colleagues in the prosecution team about the document in his possession.

“Ako, personally, I will not invite any member of the House to come here and testify. Si (Congressman) Banal came here voluntarily. At his own request. But I cannot send him an invitation or subpoena. Otherwise they can also do the reverse,” Enrile said.

Banal also admitted that he sought the help of Tiongson to explain some entries in the specimen signature card.