MANILA, Philippines — Senators will meet behind closed doors Monday and decide whether or not the Senate impeachment court will submit to the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court (SC) which bars them from compelling the Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) to present the foreign currency deposits (FCDs) belonging to impeached Chief Justice Renato C. Corona at the trial.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, presiding officer of the impeachment court, will lead the caucus of 23 senator-judges and determine the scope of the 1974 Foreign Currency Deposit Unit (FCDU) Law with reference to the trial.

It will be recalled that the SC, in a special full court session last Thursday, in a voted 8-5 to stop Senate impeachment court from compelling PSBank from presenting and testifying on the Chief Magistrate’s dollar accounts.

Enrile has agreed that this legal issue should be discussed in due time and has, in fact, suggested that in deference to the ruling of the SC — “the interpreter of the Constitution and the guardian of basic rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights”— the impeachment court, the defense counsel and the prosecution panel “heed and discuss other issues other than the foreign currency deposits because of the presence of the temporary restraining order (TRO) of the Supreme Court.”

Ahead of the caucus, Senator Joker Arroyo said Sunday that “the Senate must respect the TRO issued by the Supreme Court.”

“To begin with, it is temporary. The permanent ruling will come later, after all sides are heard,” Arroyo said.

Arroyo, who had earlier restrained members of the impeachment body from citing in contempt PS Bank President Pascual Garcia III for refusing to comply and submit Corona’s dollar accounts, said the SC is not free to abdicate its constitutional duty to act and decide what has been brought before it arising from the impeachment trial.

“The Supreme Court is not free to abdicate its constitutional duty to act and decide what has been brought before it arising from the impeachment trial, nor can the Senate assert this if per chance it does wrong during the trial, such wrong cannot be corrected,” Arroyo exhorted.”

If such were permitted, Arroyo said that makes the Senate, when acting as impeachment body, infallible. “The Constitution does not countenance this,” he said.

“What cannot be challenged is the Senate’s final decision of conviction or acquittal,” he said.

Liberal Party senators Franklin Drilon and Francis Pangilinan believe that the Senate has the sole power and authority to try and decide the impeachment case as mandated by the Constitution.

Sen. Gregorio Honasan II also agreed and said the Senate impeachment body should still proceed with the trial proceedings without Corona’s foreign bank accounts.

“My position is that nothing should stop the impeachment trial. We recognize the SC as an interpreter of the Constitution, but the impeachment court has a special mandate. In principle, nothing should stop it,” Honasan said.

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said the Senate should no longer raise a question on whether the SC has no jurisdiction over the impeachment court because clearly, under the Constitution, the SC is also doing its constitutional duty.

“I think the Senate should comply with the TRO. In my view, as a constitutional lawyer, we have to obey the Supreme Court,” Santiago said.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada on the other hand, called the SC’s TRO a “very, very wrong move and an unpopular decision, especially when its head is on trial.”

Warning that the SC is “treading on dangerous ground,” the Makabayan bloc of the House of Representatives is filing a resolution Monday to condemn the SC’s move to stop the opening of Corona’s FCDs.

Leading the group is Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teddy Casiño who branded the SC’s move “as a form of sabotage” to derail the impeachment proceedings against him.

“By restraining the impeachment court from finding out the truth of CJ Corona’s multiple dollar accounts, the Supreme Court is courting the Filipino people’s anger for hiding the truth. By abusing its powers to protect one of its own from public accountability, the SC is treading on dangerous ground,” the bloc warned.

They asked the Senate “not to back down on this blatant challenge to its authority.”

The Makabayan bloc includes Gabriela party-list Reps. Luz Ilagan and Emmie de Jesus, Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano, Alliance of Concerned Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio, and Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino.

Cavite Rep. Elpidio “Pidi” Barzaga, the House lead prosecutor for Article 2 — Corona’s alleged failure to publicly disclose his statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN) — agreed with his colleagues.

“The SC does not have jurisdiction over any matter involving the impeachment of Chief Justice Corona,” Barzaga said.

“In such dire event, the sole power of the Senate to try and decide impeachment cases would be illusory. It certainly diminishes the sole power of the Senate to try and decide impeachment cases,” he added. Meanwhile, Marikina City Rep. Miro Quimbo, spokesman for the House prosecution panel, said the unveiling of Corona’s combined P31.74-million undeclared bank deposits is “enough” to convict him on Article of Impeachment No. 2.

“Even without the dollar deposits, we are already very confident that we have proven beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of the Chief Justice. We have been able to show that he failed to declare three condominiums for a number of years, as well as deposits in 2010 alone. Article 2 is already a case closed as far as we are concerned,” Quimbo said.

It was revealed earlier that Corona has nearly P20 million in two PSBank accounts and P12 million at the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) as of Dec. 31, 2010.

“I think the evidence is quite convincing and overwhelming at this point. Before the bank accounts were presented, many were saying that the omissions in the SALN could have been honest omissions, but with the large undeclared amounts of money, that defense or theory seems to have been abandoned. The burden of evidence seems to have shifted to the defense,” said Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara. (With a report from Charissa M. Luci)