MANILA, Philippines — President Benigno S. Aquino III was not calling for People Power against Chief Justice Renato C. Corona when he took a swipe anew at the top magistrate during the town hall meeting at the La Consolacion College, Manila, last Thursday, a Palace official said Friday.

Other developments:

• Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to testify in impeachment trial

• Prosecution fears that Rep. Jorge Banal Jr. issue might be exploited by defense

Deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte said the President was merely urging the public to be involved and not be dragged by the legal technicalities of the impeachment trial.

“The President felt he needed to simplify the issues,” Valte said. “He was asking people to stake a claim.”

“Essentially, we have to remain informed… let’s not get lost in the technicalities – it was a simplification of what the issue is,” she said. “It is more of letting the people know that you should also be interested, you should make a stand, you should form your own opinion.”

Valte also said the President has the right to have his opinion heard on the impeachment case because “there has been no formal gag order” issued, and even then the President is not a party to the impeachment.

She added that the Palace believes in the independence of the impeachment court.

“We believe senator-judges are fairly independent for them to make their own assessment and as we have said, the president may be the president but he also has the right to express (his opinion) on certain things,” Valte said.

As this developed, Malacañang said the timing of the Chief Justice’s closure of three bank accounts in December last year draws suspicion, but said it is still too far to say that the move was a sign of guilt.

“The timing is certainly suspicious,” Valte said in a press briefing Friday.

“It is something again that would have to be explained by the defense,” she said.

The closure of Corona’s three bank accounts had been revealed Thursday during the impeachment trial, wherein it was disclosed that the bank accounts had been closed on December 12, 2011, the day when the House of Representatives filed an impeachment complaint against the Chief Justice.

On that same day, PSBank-Katipunan branch manager Annabelle Tiongson testified that Banal went to their branch last January 31 to “ask for help” about a photocopy of documents pertaining to Corona’s supposed accounts with the bank. Banal later confirmed this when he was given the chance to air his side before the impeachment court.

With this revelation, the prosecution panel expressed fear the Banal issue would be exploited by the defense panel as a smokescreen following the discovery of two secret accounts of Corona.

Aurora Rep. Sonny Angara said they expect the defense lawyers “to go to town with this minor issue to cover up for the damaging information which surfaced in yesterday's hearing.”

“They (defense counsels) will fan this non-issue as a smokescreen that will hide from the public the revelation made by a bank manager in open court and under oath that the Chief Justice maintained two more accounts with huge peso deposits in Ms. Tiongson’s branch,” Angara said.

This issue about Congressman Banal is just a sideshow. I’m saddened by the fact that this might be used to distract our attention from Corona’s multimillion-peso bank accounts, Marikina City Rep. Miro Quimbo, one of the prosecution’s spokesmen, said.

On Monday, Day 20 of the impeachment trial, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima is expected to take the witness stand before the impeachment court to testify whether or not the Chief Justice hastily acted on the temporary restraining order (TRO) on the implementation of the watchlist order against former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

In a two-page subpoena signed by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, De Lima was likewise asked to bring several pertinent documents needed when the impeachment body tackles Article 7 of the Articles of Impeachment.

Under the said article, Corona reportedly betrayed public trust when the SC, through his alleged partiality, granted a TRO in favor of Mrs. Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo in an apparent move to let them escape prosecution.

Among the documents being asked by the impeachment court for De Lima to bring on the February 22 hearing are Bureau of Immigration (BI) records stating the entry and exit in the Philippines of Corona; Petition for Special Civil Actions for Certiorari and Prohibition with Prayer for the Issuance of a TRO and Writ of Preliminary Injunction filed by Mr. and Mrs. Arroyo; a surveillance camera video of the Padre Faura entrance of Department of Justice (DoJ); Record of Denial of the attempted exit of Mr. and Mrs. Arroyo with BI; Special Power of Attorney given by Mr. and Mrs. Arroyo to their counsels; and Manifestation or Motion informing them of the compliance.

Meanwhile, former Senate President Ernesto M. Maceda said recent events have exposed the immaturity of the 52-year-old bachelor President.

Maceda said the President has unnecessarily put his presidency on the line by meddling in the impeachment trial which is the exclusive domain of the Senate sitting as an impeachment court.

The defense panel of Corona also said the President’s acidic remarks against the head of a co-equal branch of the government are uncalled for.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said the biting, critical statements of President Aquino against Chief Justice Corona not nice.

“Hindi maganda. Huwag sana gaoon. Dahil kung tutuusin kaming nakakarinig ng ebidensya, di pa kami nakapag-form ng aming kaisipan… karamihan sa amin,” Sotto said. (That is not nice. That should not be the case because we, the senator-judges, who have been hearing the evidence have not yet formed our decision.)

Sotto said he felt that a majority of the 23 senator-judges are deemed impartial in judging the guilt or innocence of Corona.

Sotto warned that many of the senator-judges might be put off by the President’s remarks because he expresses too much interest in the case at the expense of governing the country well.

Sotto thinks that about 10 or more senators could not simply be influenced in making their decision.

The remainder, or about 10 of them, might be swayed to side with the prosecution or with the defense, he said.

It will take 16 votes or more to convict Corona. To be acquitted, Corona needs eight votes or more. (With reports from Hannah L. Torregoza and Leonard D. Postrado)