Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, presiding officer of the impeachment court, has ordered PSBank to present on Thursday the original specimen signature card attached to the controversial bank deposits of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.

The signature records had to be required due to the controversial details of Corona's alleged bank deposits presented by the prosecution panel and subsequently branded as fake by PSBank Katipunan branch manager Annabelle Tiongson.

PSBank President Pascual Garcia, who had testified a week back on the existence of certain peso accounts but demurred when it came to foreign currency accounts, was ordered to present the signature cards.

For his part, Senator-Judge Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada said that he believes the copies of the bank records in question and alleged to contain Corona's peso and dollar accounts are authentic.

The impeachment court intends to determine the authenticity of the documents by comparing the approving officials' signatures from the original record and the photocopy, and to decide if those responsible for alterations, if any, would be sanctioned.

The prosecutors would also be made to explain why they presented a fake document.

Aside from the signature cards, Garcia was also ordered to present the logbook containing records of who has had access to the bank accounts.

Defense to insist on TRO

Defense lawyer Tranquil Salvador said his team will insist on enforcement of the temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court on the dollar accounts of Chief Justice Renato Corona, adding that the defense is concerned about inadvertently exposing other details of Corona's dollar account in spite of the TRO.

While he said that the signatures on the dollar accounts should be appropriately masked to protect sensitive information, Salvador added that the defense will comply if the impeachment court persists in scrutinizing the bank records.

Prosecution: Original documents not significant

Prosecution spokesperson Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara said, meanwhile, that he believes presenting the original specimens of Corona's bank documents will have little impact on their argument, as it just tends to prove or disprove Tiongson's fake document pronouncement much more than have significant bearing on their presentation.

Representative Rodolfo Farinas, the Deputy Chief Prosecutor, shared Angara's sentiments: "The pieces of evidence to be presented by PSBank is focused more on finding out who may have leaked the bank documents and not on investigating Corona's accountability."

ACL / Reportage from Ina Andolong, Stephanie Ongkiko and Patricia de Leon