Prosecution to use Corona’s own ruling on SALN

MANILA, Philippines—The prosecution team said Wednesday it is using a decision written by Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona himself when he was still an associate justice to prove he had ill-gotten wealth.

“In Republic versus Sandiganbayan [case], the Supreme Court said that if the SALN (statements of assets, liabilities and net worth) did not match with the ITR (Income Tax Returns), it would give rise to the presumption of ill-gotten wealth,” Marikina City Representative Romero Quimbo, the spokesman for the prosecution, said in an interview with the media.

“That decision was written by associate justice Renato Corona himself,” he said.

The ITRs of Corona and his family are expected to be presented by Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares after subpoenas for her and the documents were issued last week.

The SALNs of Corona had previously been submitted to the court by the high tribunal’s clerk of court.

“The SALN and ITR are interrelated documents, you cannot execute your SALN without looking at your ITR,” Quimbo said.

“What income you make in your year, whatever remains in that is what you put in your SALN,” he said.

Quimbo said that the ITRs only have to be presented and matched with the SALNs, “if they don’t match, then there has to be some explaining to do. Where did their  money come from to obtain the assets,” he asked.

Quimbo believed there is no reason to prevent the ITRs from being presented because they are connected with the SALN.

The prosecution said that they were also looking into the filing of a perjury case against Enriqueta Vidal, the clerk of court of the Supreme Court, who allegedly lied that she had the SALN’s of Corona with her when she first testified.