Enrile orders presentation of
Corona’s BPI monthly balance

PRESIDING OFFICER Juan Ponce Enrile ordered Bank of Philippine Islands assistant branch manager Mara Arcilla to present to the impeachment court the monthly balances of accounts allegedly owned by  Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Rejecting a motion by defense counsel Serafin Cuevas, Enrile pointed out that the impeachment court itself had ordered BPI to produce the documents before the court. The move to present the documents were in fact based on an earlier proposal by defense lawyers to bring both prosecutors and defense lawyers to the BPI Ayala branch in order to inspect the monthly balances of accounts owned by Corona.

Cuevas however said that since the defense had already withdrawn its motion to inspect the monthly balances of Corona, there was no need for Arcilla to present the documents in court. However, prosecutor Arthur Lim tried to ask permission for prosecutors to mark the statements as the prosecutors’ own.

Enrile declared that the documents were for the purposes of the court, and not for either the defense or prosecution. Enrile also admonished Lim for wanting to mark the monthly balances at this early time, saying the prosecutors were “fishing for evidence.” In the first place, the court had only ordered the presentation of the monthly balances at the request of one of the Senator-Judges.

In bowing to the ruling, Cuevas requested that the documents be sealed and not be exposed to the public because of bank secrecy laws. In particular, Cuevas said the press should not be leaked or shown to the media.

Enrile ruled that the documents would only be made available to members of the court, and both defense and prosecution lawyers. On the request of Cuevas that the documents be sealed at the soonest time, Enrile said the request was reasonable.