MANILA, Philippines - Saying they have a self-imposed deadline, the House prosecution panel aims to finish its presentation on 2 Articles of Impeachment this week and start with another in their attempt to convict Chief Justice Renato Corona.

In an interview with ANC, prosecution spokesman Erin Tañada said: “If we’re able to start tomorrow, we hope to end Article 3 by Wednesday, then proceed to Article 7 on Thursday.”

The prosecution has yet to wrap-up its case in Article 2, which has already taken 20 days of the impeachment court's time. Senator-judges earlier questioned the prosecution’s story as to how it was able to obtain Corona’s supposed dollar account.

Rep. Rey Umali said he got the bank documents from a “small lady” on February 2 in the Senate premises. The Senate’s CCTV cameras, however, did not catch a glimpse of the short lady.

On Thursday, a Philippine Savings Bank official said Quezon City 3rd District Rep. Jorge Banal approached her last January 31 and asked for help in identifying a bank document on Corona's alleged accounts.

The prosecution had claimed the account had an initial deposit of “$700K”, which it interpreted to be $700,000 (around P38 million in October 2008). The prosecution alleged this was not declared in Corona’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN).

A subpoena was issued in connection with this. However, it became a subject of a dispute among senator-judges since the accounts contain information on foreign currency deposits which are absolutely confidential unless the depositor agrees to disclose the information.

Senator-judges will meet in caucus today to determine how to go about the prosecution’s story, among others.

Tañada said the prosecution hoped to finish Article 2 last week but apparently “there were hanging issues.”

Despite the delays, the prosecution believes they already have a strong case in Article 2. The defense has yet to counter the prosecution and present its own pieces of evidence.

The prosecution said they may cut the presentation of evidence to three articles.

“We want to at least end our presentation of evidence before we go on recess on March 23…If you look at [all 8 articles], I don’t think we can complete [everything],” he said.

He said the “strategy” has changed, which would hasten the presentation of articles 3 and 7.

He said the Senate already quashed attempts to subpoena justices who would be relevant in both articles. “So it will speed up things.”

Expected to stand as witness for the prosecution this week is Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

Although she may not be able to state the supposed motive of Corona, de Lima will “lay the basis of the [hold departure order]” that the government issued against former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Tañada said.

The prosecution alleged the Supreme Court has favored Arroyo in its decisions. It earlier issued a halt order on Arroyo’s travel restraint.