Corona, kin asked to testify before impeachment court

MANILA, Philippines – Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona and some members of his family have been asked by the prosecution panel to appear and testify before the impeachment trial next week.

Aside from Corona, the prosecution team also requested the appearance and testimony of his wife, Cristina, and other family members identified as Carla Corona-Castillo, Francis Corona, Charina Corona, and Constantino Castillo III.

The prosecutors likewise requested the Senate to subpoena all pertinent documents pertaining to real estate properties in Marikina City, Paranaque/Pasay Cit, Taguig City, and Quezon City registered under the name of the Chief Justice and other family members.

In a “request for the issuance of subpoena” filed before the Office of the Senate Secretary on Thursday, the prosecutors also asked the impeachment court to subpoena the income tax returns of the Chief Justice and family members covering the years 1991 to 2011.

Representative Niel Tupas Jr. and his fellow prosecutors filed the request the day after Corona’s camp asked senators to require Tupas and four other congressmen, including Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, to appear during the trial.

Corona’s legal defense team wanted to question Tupas and company on the circumstances surrounding the approval of the impeachment complaint against him, even if a number of House members had admitted they had not read the voluminous document but signed it anyway.

In their own five-page request, Tupas’ group also asked the Senate to require Corona and his family to produce a variety of documents pertaining to a total of 45 properties allegedly registered under their names.

The properties are located in Makati City, Parañaque City, Marikina City, and Taguig City, according to a copy of a two-page letter from the Land Registration Authority. The letter signed by LRA administrator Eulalio Diaz III was attached to the request.

Diaz’s letter was dated Jan. 10, 2012 and was addressed to Tupas. It was sent “pursuant to (Tupas’) request for information relative to real estate properties registered in the name of Renato Corona et al.”

Tupas and his team wanted the Coronas to produce documents such as transfer certificates of title (TCTs), condominium certificates of title (CCTs), deeds of absolute sale, deeds of conditional sale, deeds of donation, deeds of assignment or transfer, and contracts of lease.

The prosecutors also sought purchase receipts or checks, certificates authorizing registration, and tax declarations of real property.

Besides the property documents, income tax returns of Corona and his family from 1991 to 2011 should also be the subject of subpoenae duces tecum by the Senate impeachment court, according to Tupas’ request.

The LRA letter mentioned 10 CCTs in the name of Corona and his wife, plus TCT No. 989 and TCT No. 2093-P. Tupas and his fellow prosecutors held a press conference announcing that Corona owned a 300-square meter unit at The Fort in Taguig.

They had since been castigated by a number of senators for releasing evidence in media before the actual impeachment trial could begin. Corona later asked senators to impose sanctions on the prosecutors. He said he had already admitted owning the property in his official reply to the impeachment complaint.

Of the 45 alleged Corona properties, eight are supposedly located in Marikina while 23 are in Quezon City. One Quezon City property (TCT No. 84241) is “in the name of Ismael A. Mathay Jr. et al,” according to the LRA letter.