FEB.

14, 2012 DATE

NR # 2679C
REF. NO.

House bill seeks opening of public officials dollar accounts

Even as the looming constitutional crisis had been averted with the Senate Impeachment Court, voting 13-10, decided to uphold and respect the Supreme Court's TRO ruling on CJ Coronas dollar accounts, Camarines Sur Rep. Salvio Fortuno filed a bill opening up the dollar accounts of public officials to scrutiny. The amendatory Presidential Decrees (PD 1034, 1035 and 1246) to Republic Act 6426 were designed to draw deposits from foreign lenders and investors and not from government crooks and criminals, Fortuno stressed. The Foreign Currency Deposit Act has provided and will effectively provide a safe haven for corrupt public officials and criminals since they could escape liability for their wrongful acts by merely converting their loot to a foreign currency and depositing it in a foreign currency deposit account beyond the reach of the authorities, Fortuno pointed out. In the wake of the raging controversy generated by the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court directing the impeachment court to cease and desist from compelling the PS Bank to submit documents pertaining to the foreign currency deposits of impeached Chief Justice Renato C. Corona, Fortuno, an administration lawmaker, called for the need to revisit the law or Republic Act No. 6426. HB 5838 was filed by the Bicol lawmaker to allow the Impeachment Court, Courts of competent jurisdiction and the Ombudsman to examine, inquire or look into the foreign currency deposits of all public officials and employees or when the account is the subject matter of litigation. Earlier, Fortuno filed House Bill 5694 which seeks to centralize the filing of Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth with the Office of the Ombudsman and its mandatory disclosure to the public. (30) dpt