Prosecutors: Corona may have doctored SALN

Chief Justice Renato Corona

House prosecutors on Tuesday continued a media campaign against Chief Justice Renato Corona in spite of a stern warning from senators that they were prematurely releasing evidence in violation of the Senate impeachment rules.

The prosecutors this time suggested that the Chief Justice might have tampered his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

At the “Ugnayan sa Batasan” weekly forum, Aurora Representative Juan Edgardo Angara said: “It’s possible that he (Corona) might have ‘doctored’ it because we have not seen his SALN. That’s a possibility.”

Marikina Representative Romero Quimbo said that in Corona’s 2002 SALN, his net worth amounted to P13 million—lower than the P14 million he declared previously.

“These two documents alone raise alarm bells on how he could have bought that penthouse,” Quimbo said, referring to the 303-square-meter Bellagio unit of Corona at the Bonifacio Global City which  he bought for P14.5 million, or roughly half of its market price.

Quimbo said that nondisclosure of SALN was just one of Corona’s alleged transgressions.

He said that Corona’s purported noninclusion of his other properties and his inability to prove that his salary as a public servant could cover all of these purchases were also punishable under the law.

“If a lowly driver in public service submits his SALN, what more the power justices?” Quimbo asked.

Looking for Clarissa Ocampo

Quimbo and Angara, acting as the prosecution panel’s spokespersons, said that the House team was prepared for the start of the impeachment case on Monday with all of its evidence and witnesses.

“We might get somebody like Clarissa Ocampo in the course of our hearing to help us pin down Justice Corona,” Quimbo said, referring to the bank executive who testified in the 2001 impeachment trial that she saw former President Joseph Estrada sign the “Jose Velarde” bank account.

The prosecutors also questioned Supreme Court spokesperson Midas Marquez’s active role in Corona’s defense team.

“We are looking forward to Chief Justice Corona having his own spokesperson to end all these criticisms of  his unlimited use of the Supreme Court’s resources for his personal defense. It is clear that he cannot use the Supreme Court  resources because he is the one being tried for his personal actions,” Quimbo said.

Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares also announced plans to summon Supreme Court Associate Justice Presbiterio Velasco to testify in the Corona trial on the tribunal’s issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) against a travel ban on former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Colmenares said he also planned to summon  Marquez, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and several journalists to elaborate on what the House prosecutor said was Corona’s bias in favor of Arroyo. He earlier claimed that Corona altered the court’s TRO decision, scrapping conditions for its issuance.

The Senate clerk of court has recommended the dismissal of the urgent motion of a private lawyer to cite House prosecutors in contempt for attempting to “demonize” Corona in media.

Emma Reyes officially transmitted the six-page plea filed by Fernando Perito, a private lawyer, to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and the 22 other senator-judges on Monday.  Her transmittal form recommended the denial of the motion “on the ground of absence of legal standing.”

Perito filed his motion after Representative Niel Tupas Jr., head of the House prosecution team, and its members released to media last week purported evidence against Corona before his trial, which begins Monday next week.

Among the supposed evidence, ostensibly to support corruption charges, were documents purportedly pertaining to Corona’s alleged illicit acquisition of a unit in a luxury condominium in Taguig City.

In his motion, Perito accused the House prosecutors of “conspiring with impunity in their relentless thirst for media exposures to demonize their prey, the Chief Justice.”

“If you have strong evidence, just shut up and hide it from the glares and interest of the adverse party for a better presentation of evidence in court!” Perito said.