Sunstar: Group urges government officials to disclose bank records

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/breaking-news/2012/02/20/group-urges-government-officials-disclose-bank-records-207089

Group urges government officials to disclose bank records

Sunstar, www.sunstar.com.ph

Monday, February 20, 2012

MANILA -- Some 100 militant workers went to the Supreme Court on Monday to challenge government officials to disclose their bank records, currently a hotly-debated issue in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

This developed after President Benigno Aquino III and Corona exchanged tirades to reveal each other's Statement of Assets of Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN). Corona even revived the issue of Aquino's psychiatric records in 1979, when he allegedly suffered from depression and melancholia.

"If Noynoy (Aquino) and Corona are truly sincere in their calls for transparency and public accountability, we challenge them to disclose their bank records. Also, if genuine democracy exists in the country, the 'people's right to know' should have the primacy over the property rights of individuals," Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) president Leody de Guzman said.

For his part, a student leader from the University of the Philippines-Diliman chided Corona for demanding Aquino's psychological records, calling such statements as "juvenile."

"You hear that kind of taunt from schoolyard bullies, never from a chief justice of the Supreme Court. Such statements only serve to distract the public from the real issue regarding his bank accounts. Corona just gave another reason for the public to doubt his fitness to remain as chief justice," UP-College of Social Sciences and Philosophy chairperson JC Tejano said.

Some senator-judges have urged Aquino and Corona to exercise restraint amid the word war between the two. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)