Docus of firm owned by Corona’s wife asked to be subpoenaed from SEC

MANILA, Philippines – The prosecution team has asked the impeachment court to subpoena company registration documents of a corporation owned by the wife of Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Tuesday.

Based on the 2003 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) of Corona, he had taken out a cash advance of P11 million from the Basa-Guidote Enterprises, Inc., the prosecution team said in a statement.

The 2003 SALN shows an entry “Cash advance from Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc. (wife’s family corporation)” appearing under the “Liabilities (Loans, Mortgages, etc.)” with a corresponding “11,000,000” stated in the field beside it.

The entry appears in the SALNs in the succeeding years up to 2009. The value gradually decreases to “10,000,000” in 2005; “8,000,000” in 2006; “6,500,000” in 2007;  “5,000,000” in 2008; and to “3,000,000” in 2009, as indicated in his SALNs. The gradual decrease meant that Corona “was paying the cash advance,” the statement said.

Lead prosecutor Neil Tupas Jr and private prosecutor Mario Bautista had asked the Impeachment Court to subpoena the director of the company registration and monitoring department of the SEC to turn over the relevant documents, their statement said.

They were asking for the “original and certified true copies of the articles of incorporation of Basa-Guidote Enterprises, Inc., its general information sheet, and the audited financial statements from 2000 to 2010”, it said.

The prosecution wanted for the SEC representative to appear in court on January 26, Thursday to present the documents.