Press Release
February 13, 2012

Transcript: Sen. Chiz Escudero on his vote to respect Supreme Court's issuance of TRO on opening Corona dollar account

Mr. President I voted with the majority to issue the subpoena in so far as the bank records are concerned, both local and foreign. I stand by that decision, Mr. President. I believe the TRO issued by the Supreme Court is wrong, however, the place to slug it out is not here but in the Supreme Court, hindi naman tayo mga tambay sa kalye na pwede tayong magpatigasan ng mukha dahil hindi tayo nagkakasundo. Ang tamang lugar para ipaglaban na tayo ay tama ay sa Korte Suprema na siyang nag-isyu ng desisyon, hindi po dito para pagbanggain ang dalawang institusyon n gating pamahalaan. Mr. President I'm saddened by the fact that we even had to put this to a vote. Labis ang aking kalungkutan na kailangan pa ba nating pagbotohan ito, ang katanungang suusndin ba natin ang desisyon ng Korte o hindi. Natatakot at nanganganib na baka mamaya gayahin tayo ng ibang mga sanggunian sa buong bansa, paano na lamang kung ang sangguniang panlalawigan, bayan o siyudad, ng ibang probinsya, munisipyo at sabihing tingin naming mali ang desisyon ng Korte eh, pagbotohan nga natin kung susunod tayo o hindi dahil mali yon eh. Ilegal yan. As a student of the law, Mr. President, tama man o mali ang desisyon tinuruan po kami na sumunod at ipaglaban na lamang aming karapatan sa loob ng korte, hindi sumuway dahil ang kapalit po nyan anarkiya sa ating bansa at karapatan at kapangyarihan para sa bawat isa sa atin- piliin aling desisyon ang susundin, alin ang desisyon na hindi susundin.

Mr. President when we speak of morality and doing what is right I'm of the firm belief that in our search for the truth this does not in anyway give us any right to violate the law, sa paghahanap natin ng katotohanan wala naman siguro tayong lisensiyang lumabag sa batas at hindi sumunod sa utos ng korte, sa paghahanap ng katotohanan bakita tayo tutulad sa kanila na walang pakundangan kung ilabag ang batas. Kung pag-uusapan po natin kugn ano ang tama at mali, dapat dito tayo tumayo, dito tayo naiiba doon sa iba na walang pakundangan kung labagin ang batas, tama man o mali, dahil kahit gaano kaganda an gating motibo wala tayong lisensiyang lumabag sa anuamng batas na tayo mismo ang pumasa.

Bilang solusyon, Mr. President, your honor, ang aking nais ipanukala ay una: to hold to task and hold to their word the defense and the respondent, as well as their counsels in their promise to reveal in the course of the trial this bank deposits and bank accounts. Secondly, Mr. President, your honor, we have a Senate bill, senate Bill 107 which is containing the committee report no. 2, the second committee report to be filed before plenary in this chamber and I hope our colleagues in the House will support this too. It is a simple bill, Mr. President, it mandates that all public official required to file SALN shall together with their SALN execute a waiver n so far as the secrecy of the bank deposits are concerned. Perhaps this is the best time, this is the right time to remind our colleagues both in the House and the Senate to pass this long overdue bill, so once and for all we will be able to do this legally and should this occur again we will be empowered and will have the arms and the necessary mechanisms in order to exact the truth, not only for the respondent, but from our banks as well. As a final point, Mr. President, your honor, lahat tayo ayaw ng may daga sa loob ng bahay natin kahit gaano man kaliit o kalaki yung dagang yon, pero sa kagustuhan nating hulihin yung daga, wala naman siguro tayong lisensiyang sunugin ang buong bahay, idamay yung ibang tao, na wala naman pong kinalaman dito. Our vote does not and cannot be compared with respect to the other votes of the Senate in so far as hiding the truth is concerned. Only that we want to do it properly, we want to do it in accordance with law and at the end of the day we hope that we will be able to still find the truth, legally respecting everybody's rights and in accordance with the Constitution and our laws. Thank you, Mr. President.

News Latest News Feed