EDITORIAL - Refuge

The latest episode in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona featured the battle over the secrecy of dollar accounts he is believed to have in one bank. The Su-preme Court, acting on a petition of PSBank, issued a temporary restraining order last Thursday, preventing the Senate impeachment court from tackling the issue.

At issue is Republic Act 6426 or the Foreign Currency Deposit Act of the Philippines, which provides for the “absolutely confidential nature” of foreign currency deposits, unless a depositor gives written permission for an account to be opened. The secrecy is meant to encourage financial investments in the country. The SC once allowed an ex-emption to the absolute secrecy provision, with the ruling confined to that one case involving a foreigner. It could order another exemption in the case of Corona and PSBank – or at least that’s what certain quarters hope.

Even while waiting for the final ruling of the SC, the House of Representatives can start working on amendments to Republic Act 6426. Passed in 1974 and amended by two presidential decrees of Ferdinand Marcos, RA 6426 can be made to jibe with certain provisions of RA 1405, which covers the secrecy of peso accounts.

RA 1405, passed in 1955 and amended several times between 1981 and 1993, allows the opening of peso deposits under certain circumstances including impeachment, or if there is a written permission of the depositor, or if there is a court order in connection with bribery cases. The law against money laundering, passed a decade ago, also al-lows the lifting of bank secrecy laws under specific circumstances.

If foreign currency deposits can be opened only with the consent of the account holder, those with ill-gotten wealth will keep assets in foreign currency accounts. This sounded melodramatic when said during the impeachment trial, but the lament is valid. The exemptions provided by law in the secrecy of peso deposits have not been det-rimental to the country’s banking industry. Those whose assets are legitimate should have nothing to fear if similar exemptions are made in the laws governing foreign cur-rency deposits. The law cannot be a refuge for lawbreakers.