MANILA, Philippines — Although the Senate impeachment court is challenging the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court, the trial of Chief Justice Renato C. Corona will continue as the dollar account is just one of the issues of the complaint.

“Definitely, it will not affect or delay the trial as there are other complaints that has to be tackled by the impeachment court,” said Rep. Sonny Angara, one of the prosecution panel’s spokespersons.

According to Angara, the dollar account issue will have to be shelved temporarily in the trial while other matters will be heard by the impeachment court.

But Angara said the foreign account will be a big issue that should be settled by the SC and Senate, citing its importance in their complaint against Corona. “We are ready to wait for the issue on foreign currency deposit unit (FCDU) to be settled,” said Angara.

The issue came to fore after the SC issued last Friday the TRO prohibiting the disclosure of the supposed foreign currency accounts of the Chief Justice. Some quarters, including some senators, are urging the Senate to defy the TRO.

On the other hand, lawyer Ramon Esguerra, one of the counsels of CJ Corona, said the issue of foreign currency deposit can only be resolved through amendment and not through the challenge aired by President Aquino to the Chief Justice to reveal his dollar account.

“More importantly, his Excellency must be reminded that the remedy lies in the amendment of the law which his loyalists and propagandists in the House and Senate should be doing in the first place,” Esguerra said.

“The CJ is not a convicted criminal. He is not hiding but openly fighting in the arena where law and rules reign,” Esguerra said.

Esguerra also hit back at their detractors who, he said, were chanting about the issue of paid or pro bono in serving as counsel of Corona.

“The opportunity to fight for one's honor and that of his family and the values and principles one lives by, at the risk of life, is a chance, a rare one, of a lifetime,” Esguerra said.

Meanwhile, Senator Antonio “Sonny” F. Trillanes IV asserted that there is absolutely no basis for the claims of some quarters that the subpoena issued by the Senate ordering the opening of the dollar accounts allegedly owned by Chief Justice Corona with the PSBank will result in loss of privacy of bank deposits and will adversely affect country’s banking system.

“First of all, the exception from the bank and foreign currency deposit secrecy laws which will result from the implementation of the subpoena will apply to a handful of impeachable officials only and specifically in impeachment cases only,” Trillanes stressed.

Trillanes pointed out that under the Constitution, only the President, the Vice President, members of the Supreme Court, the Ombudsman and Chairmen and Commissioners of the Constitutional Commissions can be the subjects of impeachment.

“It is very clear that investors, corporations, private businesses and private individuals and even ordinary officials and rank-and-file government employees will not be affected since they are not impeachable officers and can never be respondents in any impeachment case,” Trillanes added.

He added that at the end of the day, only corrupt, high-ranking government officials can potentially be affected by the precedent created by the impeachment court’s ruling. This should in fact be a welcome development because the law should never be a refuge for those engaged in corruption and other criminal activities,” Trillanes said.

The Senate is going to decide on the matter in a caucus called for the purpose at 11 a.m. Monday, shortly before the Senate convenes anew as an impeachment court at 2 p.m.