THE House opposition bloc yesterday vowed to investigate their two colleagues who are members of the prosecution panel in the impeachment court for possible disciplinary action over alleged violation of the Bank Secrecy Law.

During the House minority’s regular press conference Wednesday, Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano Jr. said they want Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, a public prosecutor, and Quezon City Rep. Jorge Banal, a member of the prosecution's secretariat, to stand trial before the committee over the supposed leakage of bank documents of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

“Maybe we will just concentrate on Banal and Umali who apparently violated the Bank Secrecy Law by providing these fake documents in the impeachment,” Albano told reporters.

“But certainly we will pursue our investigation on Banal and Umali. We will file the proper resolution (next) Monday,” Albano added.

For his part, House Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said the investigation by the committee is proper since the actions of Umali and Banal have affected the image of the House of Representatives as a whole.

“That is why we will be asking the House ethics committee to look into their culpability for dragging the good name of the entire House of Representatives into this disorderly behavior,” Suarez pointed out.

Zambales Rep. Ma. Milagros “Mitos” Magsaysay warned that the House’s failure to hold an inquiry will erode the credibility of the banking industry and could further result in panic among big depositors.

Magsaysay said the source should be held liable for a criminal act as this issue could cause irreparable damage to the industry.

“Since there is the implication that parties other than PS Bank handled the documents during the audit process, then persons who were able to view these confidential materials should all be investigated, including auditors from the Anti Money Laundering Council and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to narrow down any possible source of the leakage,” said Magsaysay.

She said that the law is very clear with regard to bank confidentiality and the fact that the prosecution was able to get their hands on faithful reproductions of the original documents could cause alarm among banking industry stakeholders and depositors.