Aquino prepared to authorize release of Corona’s tax records

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda

President Benigno Aquino III is prepared to authorize the release of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s income tax returns if the House prosecution panel asks for them, Malacañang said Thursday.

“If a request is made to the President, in all likelihood, yes,” said presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda when asked by reporters if the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) would help the prosecution case in Corona’s impeachment trial.

BIR Commissioner Kim Henares has indicated she needs authorization from the President if she is summoned to appear in the trial.

Cross-check SALNs

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said there was a need to cross-check Corona’s statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) submitted on Wednesday to the Senate trial court against his income tax returns.

Abad earlier said that Corona’s purported “pricey assets” were presumed ill-gotten if proven that his government salary could not cover them. But he told the Inquirer yesterday,  “I cannot make any statement just based on the SALN on its face … We need to look into the details of the transactions. Also, we need to cross-check his SALN with his income tax return.”

He said the House prosecutors could look into why his acquisitions of condominium units in  the cities of Makati and Taguig in 2003 and 2004—assets he declared in his December 2010 SALN—were not declared in his 2003 and 2004 SALNs.

“Prior to 2010, all his acquired properties were in Quezon City. (This is) something for the prosecutors to look into,” he added. Norman Bordadora