In a Cebu press conference, Jose Roy III and other counsels said they’d cross-examine Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s defiance of court orders to let former President Gloria Arroyo skip town. They’d also skewer the Aquino administration’s “pattern of disobedience of the law.”

Fine. But the spiels skirted what is on everybody’s mind: How will Corona respond to    Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales’ 20 April order to confirm – and justify – hefty dollar deposits. Explain within 72 hours where an estimated P10 million in PSBank and other deposits in BPI came from, Morales ordered. (Current exchange rate: P42.1 = US$1). They’re not reported in Corona’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities (SALN).

Ordinary citizens deserve straight answers. “Wait for action by the Chief Justice, if any,” said defense spokesperson Tranquil Salvador III. How long? The barnstormers replay their client’s dogged refusal to testify since “there is no case”. Corona himself will explain his foreign exchange stash. This is known as British politician Denis  Healey’s “First Law Of Holes”: “When you are in one, stop digging.”

Arroyo justices barred release of Corona’s dollar deposits by clamping on a temporary restraining order on request by PSBank. They set a hearing – for June 26. Will the impeachment be over by then?  Patay na ang kabayo, by then?

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile tiptoed around the Ombudsman’s order, citing “different jurisdictions”. The impeachment court decides issues of fitness and removal, he said. The Ombudsman prosecutes. Will 23 senator-judges play deaf-and-dumb to the Ombudsman’s order?

Sen. Frank Drilon expects the Chief Justice to scoot again to colleagues in the Supreme Court. (He’ll) ask for a temporary restraining order to prevent Carpio-Morales from acting on Corona’s SALN waiver and sift thru $10 million in various banks. Drilon hoped this time the Chief Justice will not contradict again his pledges to be transparent.  Well, “only death renders hopes futile”.

Corona’s barnstormers denounced the anti-graft agency’s move by arguing the Ombudsman “has no jurisdiction over Corona”. “Malacañang and its allies are moving heaven and earth to destroy his reputation by spreading lies and conditioning  people to go against him.”

“Obviously [it’s] a clear retaliation [against] our decision on Hacienda Luisita,” the Chief Justice himself weighed in. He hit back at recent surveys that showed him nosedive. These were “orchestrated to malign him in the eyes of Filipinos”. That charge falls flat  to anyone who has seen the professionalism displayed  by Social Weather Stations or PulseAsia.

But how did Ombudsman Morales shred a blackout where others failed. “Simple,” wrote Carmela Fonbuena of Rappler, the new investigative reporter’s group. “Corona  gave  the Office of the Ombudsman permission.”

At the back of a SALN is a pro-forma waiver that Corona signed: “I hereby authorize the Ombudsman, or his duly designated representative to secure from all appropriate government agencies…such documents as may show my assets, liabilities, etc. That includes dependents “covering past years, to include the year I first assumed office in government.”

Since then, Internet has been swamped with “details” of those accounts. Philippine Star’s Jarius Bondoc was informed Corona stashed, in seven transactions, $2,858,977.22 in Philippine Savings Bank-Katipunan branch. Six other transactions totaled $2.3 million.

“A machine copy of  Corona  deposits, obtained by Business Insight, show that the first deposit – presumably under the Foreign Currency Deposit Unit (FCDU) – was made on Aug. 5, 2008 for $764, 3444.78, Malaya publisher Jake Macasaet wrote. “(This was)   under account number 1241019340.

Two succeeding deposits were made in August 2008…On December 15, 2009, there was an outward remittance of $471,678.46. We have no information where the money went… And so on. Corona argues FCDU deposits can be examined only by the depositor…(To prevent ‘laundering’) there is a law that exempts deposits  when there is suspicion the money might have come from illegal sources. If peso and dollar deposits, directly linked to SALN, are not included, that is lying under oath. That is “an offense committed by many but never by the Chief Justice”— before. That underscores the relevance of the Ombudsman’s enquiry.

There are instances when the accused does not contest the evidence. But neither would he admit or deny the truth or falsity of the same evidence, Macasaet wonders: “If the Chief Justice does not defend himself in the witness stand, is (there a) possibility that he may be convicted on the theory of ‘Nolo contendere?’”.

“Pag mayrong usok ay may siga. “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” The only way Corona can prevent more smoke from wafting up is to abide by the waiver he signed on his SALN.

“Three things cannot long be hidden,” Buddha once said. “The sun, the moon – and the truth.” All eyes meanwhile are on Carpio-Morales – and Corona, of course.

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