Senator-Judges voted 13-10 in a closed-door caucus on Monday to abide by the Supreme Court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) granting a motion by Philippine Savings Bank to stop scrutiny by the Impeachment Court of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s dollar deposits at his ongoing trial.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, while asserting the senators’ sole jurisdiction to try all impeachment cases, said majority of the members decided after the deliberations to “respect the order” of the High Court insofar as the case filed by PSBank involving Corona’s dollar account was concerned.
Those who voted to obey the High Court’s TRO were Sens. Joker Arroyo, Miriam Santiago, Manuel Villar, Ralph Recto, Francis Escudero, Aquilino Pimentel III, Loren Legarda, Gregorio Honasan, Ferdinand Marcos II, Ramon Revilla II, Senate Majority Leader Tito Sotto, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.
Those who voted to defy the TRO were Sens. Serge Osmeña, Frank Drilon, Edgardo Angara, Panfilo Lacson, Pia Cayetano, Francis Pangilinan, Antonio Trillanes, Lito Lapid, Teofisto Guingona III and Senate Minority Leader Alan Cayetano.
“This matter has been thoroughly discussed in caucus. All members were present… each member explained his or her position, a vote was taken and the result was that 13 members of the [23-member] Impeachment Court opted to respect the TRO on the issue raised by PSBank with respect to dollar deposit of Corona in that bank,” Enrile announced at the resumption of the Corona trial yesterday.
Enrile said this simply meant that the members of the Impeachment Court, because of the SC restriction, will obey its TRO as far as dollar deposits covered by Republic Act 4626 (Foreign Currency Deposit Law) but not Republic Act 1405, which refers to local currency deposits.
According to Enrile, the Senate will “vigorously defend” this position and is prepared to argue its case on the merits and defend its public-policy basis.
Under questioning by Drilon, defense lawyer Jose Roy assured the senator-judges that Corona had agreed to open his bank accounts but will do so “at the appropriate time” when it is the turn of the defense to present evidence at the trial.
“I confirm that the client [Corona] will do it in due course. We are not authorized to compromise our client. But let me be clear, the Chief Justice informed us and authorized us to announce he would disclose the bank account himself at the appropriate time,” Roy told the Impeachment Court on Day 16 of the Corona trial.
Confronted by Senate Minority Leader Cayetano, Roy apologized to the court over charges aired by defense lawyers on Sunday linking unidentified senator-judges to an alleged Palace payoff for senators to defy the TRO on Corona’s dollar accounts.
Roy said it was “a terrible allegation” but said this was not their allegation. He said the panel merely adverted to reports they received that Malacañang, through Executive Secretary Francis Ochoa, had been calling senators offering P100 million for senators to vote to disregard the TRO during their Monday caucus.
“Humihingi kami ng dispensa kung hindi maliwanag ang mga pahayag. That is not what we intended,” Roy said. “We [defense lawyers] are here in full force to show there was no malice in what we did. The info we got did not name the senators involved,” he added but refused to name their source.
Senator Estrada earlier took the floor to “denounce in strongest possible terms the defense panel move calling a press conference and linking senators to a Palace payoff only to say their source cannot be disclosed.”
The Senate President Pro Tempore said he and his fellow senators were not inclined to let this pass because it involved “the integrity of the senators, the Senate and the Impeachment Court.”
Estrada said he would not speculate on the agenda of defense lawyers for making such baseless allegations but challenged them to name names. “Let us be man enough; what we are doing here is no joke.
I dare you to name who told you this information because you have crossed the line in attempting to besmirch this institution. Malaking insulto ito sa institution and the senator-judges.”
Senator Trillanes moved for the Impeachment Court to ask the defense lawyers who made the allegations to explain within the week why they should not be cited in contempt.
Senate President Enrile banged the gavel signaling the body’s approval of Trillanes’s motion. “All of this will unravel in due time,” Enrile added without elaborating.
