MANILA, Philippines - Senate star witness Pascual Garcia III, president of Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank), is one of the top two candidates in the search for president of Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank), sources told The STAR.

The other is current Metrobank executive vice president and head of the national branch banking sector Fabian Dee.

Current president Arthur Ty, eldest son of Metrobank founder George S.K. Ty, is reportedly moving up to chairman of the bank. At 44 years old, he will become the youngest bank chairman in the country.

Dee, 48, reportedly has the nod of the elder Ty.

But Garcia’s stock got a big boost after he testified last week at the Senate impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Although he was not the subject of the Senate subpoena, Garcia faced the Senate on behalf of the bank and refused to open the dollar accounts allegedly owned by Corona in PSBank Katipunan branch, citing the foreign currency deposit secrecy law.

Garcia, however, testified on the peso accounts of Corona in the bank.

At a meeting of Metrobank Group officials last week, sources said Garcia, 57, was roundly applauded when he entered the room.

Dee, who has been with Metrobank since 2001, is also vice chairman of the bank’s executive committee and a member of the senior executive committee. He is also chairman of Metrobank Card Corp.

Arthur Ty had reportedly sought a five-year stint as Metrobank president before he agreed to take the job in 2006, replacing Antonio Abacan Jr., who was named chairman of the bank.

Prior to that, Arthur was vice chairman of the board of PSBank.

Arthur is expected to assume more responsibilities within the growing Metrobank Group that has been steadily expanding to other industries including power distribution, real estate and property development, and the various financial sectors.

The STAR tried to contact both Dee and Garcia, but was told that bank officials were in a meeting and could not be reached for comment.