Senator and Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto, sitting as an impeachment judge, says it is possible that Representative Rey Umali of Oriental Mindoro may be removed from the prosecution if a senator-judge moves for it.

Umali had earlier claimed that a "small lady" handed him the bank records which the prosecution attached in its request to subpoena Chief Justice Renato Corona’s bank accounts.

Sotto said from the time Umali entered the senate premises at one o'clock in the afternoon until he left the building at 3:19, no small lady could be ascertained to have handed him a brown envelope. While there was a time before the trial when a small lady approached Umali on the 5th floor, Sotto added, she did not hand him any envelope.

When at one point Umali entered the Secretariat and a room on the 2nd floor, Sotto said, he was not seen holding a brown envelope upon leaving the room.

On Monday, Philippine Savings Bank Branch Manager Anabel Tiongson had said the bank documents presented by the prosecution are fake, but Senators-Judge Aquilino Pimentel III and Ralph Recto expressed disbelief in Tiongson's statement. Recto said it is possible that Tiongson is only protecting the interests of her employer.

Because of these developments, Sen. Sotto said the impeachment court will be more meticulous in accepting documents that may later on be introduced as evidence.

ACL / Reportage from Joyce Ilas