Witness faces contempt over 'Mr. Anonymous'

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate impeachment court ordered yesterday a defense witness to explain why he should not be cited for contempt for trying to influence senator-judges.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile questioned the motive of Harvey Keh, lead covenor of Kaya Natin! Movement, for turning over confidential records of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s alleged $10-million bank accounts to his office and not to the Office of the Ombudsman, where the civil society leader earlier filed a complaint.

Keh, who was presented by the defense as a hostile witness on Day 39 of the trial, told the impeachment court that he received the supposed bank documents of Corona from an “anonymous” source in his office in Quezon City last May 3.

Enrile said he felt insulted after Keh submitted the documents to his office while being covered by a news crew of ABS-CBN.

“Because of this I’m ordering you to show cause why you should not be cited for contempt by this impeachment court. You’re trying to influence this court by bringing these documents,” Enrile told Keh.

The Senate President said he did not open and read the documents because he does not know what they were.

“I felt insulted and offended as a presiding officer of this court and I am ordering you to show cause why you not be cited for contempt,” he said.

“What was your purpose in giving this to me in a sealed envelope with a television crew accompanying you? What for?” Enrile asked Keh.

Keh said he delivered the documents to Enrile’s office because he felt the Senate was the proper government agency to examine these documents.

“I just felt that your office is in the best position to study this document and see if they can be used or not,” he said in response to Enrile.

“Evidently they (media) knew that you were coming to my office, you wanted to be sure it will be publicized, it will be delivered to the impeach court,” Enrile said.

‘Arrest Mr. Anonymous’

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago berated Keh yesterday for submitting documents, which allegedly came from an anonymous source.

She said Keh could not even be a witness and yet he was foisting himself as a complainant before the public.

“You’re acting on anonymous source, every time there is something that requires identification of the source the prosecution says there is no source, it came anonymously. Who is Mr. Anonymous? I just want to ask the PNP (Philippine National Police) and AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) to issue an arrest order against him,” the Iloilo senator said.

Santiago and Enrile asked Keh why he did not give the documents to the prosecution team and volunteer as witness.

Keh answered that the impeachment case against Corona was already filed when he received the documents.

Santiago also threatened Keh with criminal charges for violating the Bank Secrecy Law and the Foreign Currency Deposit Act.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., on the other hand, said that there are several ways now in which seemingly anonymous documents end up in the hands of the prosecution.

Marcos said that during the presentation of evidence of the prosecution, they mentioned about the “small lady” who allegedly gave documents to Oriental Mindoro 2nd district Rep. Reynaldo Umali and the anonymous source who gave the same documents to Quezon City 3rd district Rep. Jorge “Bolet” Banal.

Keh said the documents were left in the mail slot in the Kaya Natin! Office in Barangay Loyola Heights in Quezon City last May 3. He said the documents, which were placed in a brown envelope, were addressed to him.

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada called Keh a liar when he said that he was not seeking publicity when he got the papers on Corona’s alleged bank accounts.

Keh admitted that he texted a tabloid reporter and a broadsheet reporter about the documents.

Defense lawyer Dennis Manalo, meanwhile, tried to prove Keh’s “involvement in a well-planned and orchestrated effort to destroy the reputation of Corona.”