MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) asked the Supreme Court (SC) Wednesday to stop the Senate, acting as impeachment court, from compelling its officers to present and testify on the foreign currency deposit account of Chief Justice Renato C. Corona.

In a petition, PSBank President Pascual Garcia III said a temporary restraining order (TRO) is necessary to prevent a possible bank run as a result of the “arbitrary and whimsical” examination of a foreign currency deposit supposedly protected by Republic Act No. 6426, the law creating a foreign currency deposit system in the country.

“All banks and the general banking public are looking at us and hoping that we do everything to protect dollar depositors,” explained Garcia, in a telephone interview with the Manila Bulletin.

Garcia also asked the SC to nullify the subpoena issued by the Senate for him or any officer of the bank to present and testify on Corona’s foreign currency deposit for the years 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.

Garcia said RA 6426 provides that foreign currency deposits are absolutely confidential in nature, and except upon the written permission of the depositor, such deposits cannot be examined or looked into by any person, including government official or any other entity whether public or private.

He pointed out that the execution of the subpoena issued by the Senate and the testimony on the Chief Justice’s foreign currency account would expose him and those who will testify in behalf of the bank to criminal liability under RA 6426.

He said the law imposes a penalty of imprisonment of not less than five years or a fine of P25,000 or both for violation of the law.

He also stressed that the disclosure of Corona’s foreign currency account without the Chief Justice’s permission might also lead to the revocation or suspension by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) of the bank’s authority to accept new foreign currency deposits.

“Here, the exposure to criminal liability and imprisonment of petitioner Garcia either for violation of R.A. 6426 if he discloses any detail on a foreign currency deposit for defiance of the assailed subpoena is irreparable, as it cannot be adequately compensated in an action for damages,” he said.

“This will also have a chilling effect on the other banks, whose foreign currency depositors may be alarmed by the impeachment court’s arbitrary and whimsical examination of a foreign currency deposit supposedly protected by R.A. 6426 and subject to the strict requirement of disclosure under the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA),” he added.

The SC has scheduled a special full court session this afternoon to tackle the issues on the presentation of certain documents to the Senate and the subpoena that may be issued for its justices to appear during the impeachment trial.

In the absence of any ruling from the SC, Garcia appeared before the impeachment court Wednesday as witness for the prosecution.

Garcia was only able to bring the records of five peso bank accounts of Corona.

Corona’s petition

As this developed, the Chief Justice Wednesday turned to his 14 colleagues in the SC – the final arbiter of all justiciable issues in the country – to nullify the complaints filed against him and stop the impeachment proceedings before the Senate, acting as impeachment court.

In a petition filed by his lawyers, Corona asked the SC to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) that would stop the impeachment proceedings and ban the presentation of the documents pertaining to his accounts with two banking institution.

Corona’s lawyers said “the impeachment complaint is null and void because it was transmitted without due notice and hearing to CJ Corona. A simple reading of the Articles of Impeachment will show that probable cause to impeach CJ Corona has not been established.

But Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the Senate cannot be stopped by any judicial body from trying and deciding impeachment cases.

“All I know is that the Constitution says that the Senate has the sole power to try and decide impeachment cases,” Enrile said.

Special session

The SC will tackle the Corona petition as well as the petition of the PSBank during its special session Thursday.

As this developed, the House opposition bloc joined the camp of the Chief Justice in calling for an investigation into the leak of the top magistrate’s dollar and peso accounts, saying it would shoo away foreign investors.

Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said he will file a resolution on Monday to seek a congressional inquiry into the matter, which “will definitely scare investors away from investing in the Philippines.”

Suarez proposed that the two banks where the bank records were sourced out – the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) should be penalized for such leak since they failed to police their employees not to divulge such documents.

Deputy Minority Leader and Zambales Rep. Ma. Milagros “Mitos” Magsaysay warned the two banks against leaking bank documents, saying they might experience the same fate of Equitable Bank which suffered bankruptcy after the disclosure of bank accounts during the plunder trial of former President Joseph Estrada.

Earlier, Sen. Miriam Santiago also sought the Senate reconsideration of its ruling it issued to officials of PSBank and BPI, citing three concerns including the possible violations on the country’s law on foreign currency deposits. (With reports from Charissa M. Luci and Hannah L. Torregoza)