Senate sets vote on Valhalla papers

The Senate decides tomorrow whether to affirm or put to a vote the decision of Chief Justice Hilario Davide to open the sealed envelope containing documents related to the controversial "Jose Valhalla" account.

The decision is consi-dered affirmed if no senator objects to the decision. It will be put to a vote should one senator object. It takes a majority vote of the senators present to make a decision.

President Estrada’s lawyers have indicated that they would seek a reconsi-deration should the Senate affirm the decision. Former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza said they might even go to the Supreme Court to prevent the opening of the envelope.

Mendoza and former Chief Justice Andres Narvasa said that the documents in the sealed envelope should not be opened because they are not material and relevant to the charge of bribery leveled against the President.

The "Valhalla account" at the Juan Luna-Binondo branch of Equitable-PCIBank was alleged to be the source of a P142-million check used to fund the purchase of the "Boracay mansion" of one of the mistresses of the President.

An executive of Equitable PCIBank gave the documents in the sealed envelope to the Senate secretariat in obedience to a subpoena signed by Davide. The sealed envelope is supposed to contain the application to open bank account No. 0110-25495-4, specimen signatures of the account owner, and a ledger of transactions involving the account.

The defense said that opening the sealed envelope would be tantamount to a fishing expedition.

Meanwhile, Narvasa said that the issue on the use of the documents in the sealed envelope as evidence is still unresolved.

Davide had declared as premature the objections of Narvasa and Mendoza on the opening of the sealed envelope. Davide said that the objection could be raised only when the "Valhalla" documents are submitted as evidence to the impeachment court.

The prosecution said that the defense has shown its dread over the disclosure of the contents of the "Valhalla" account.

Makati City Rep. Joker Arroyo said that there could be no explanation for the defense’s intent to go up to the Supreme Court except this great fear on the public disclosure of the bank account documents.

He had previously stated that the banks would play a pivotal role in the impeachment trial, as he appealed for the impeachment court’s help in getting the needed documents from the banks.

Quezon Rep. Wigberto Tanada said that the opening of the envelope would tighten up the impeachment charges, as he revealed that the prosecution would seek more documents pertaining to 33 other bank checks. – Efren Danao