SEC exec grilled over Corona wife’s family firm

MANILA, Philippines – Chief Justice Renato Corona took an P11million cash advance in 2003 from a company that failed to file its general information sheet and financial statements from 1991-1997 and from 2000-2010, an official of the Securities and Exchange Commission testified at the resumption of Corona’s impeachment trial Wednesday but could not say whether the firm remained operational even after its registration had been revoked.

The one-hour cross examination of Benito Cataran, SEC director of corporate registration and monitoring department, irked Senator Joker Arroyo who said, “If you’re not sure of your evidence, please don’t present. That’s all.”

Cataran was grilled by the Senate sitting as an impeachment court over his uncertainty on whether the Basa-Guidote Entrprises Inc (BGEI), owned by the family of Corona’s wife, Cristina, continued to operate even after, he said, the SEC revoked the corporation’s certificate of registration in April 2003, which he later corrected to May 2003.

He said the firm failed to file its general information sheet from 1991 to 1997 and its financial statements from 2000 to 2010.

On the direct examination by prosecutor and Oriental Mindoro Representative Reynaldo Umali, Cataran said that “since 1991, the corporation has not been submitting any report…From 1991 up to 1997.”

“The latest general information sheet that we have is that of 1990,” said the witness.

The non-filing of the general information sheet “in the period of more than at least six years – from 1997 up to 2002 – prompted the revocation of the certificate of registration in April, 2003”, said Cataran, contradicting his earlier statement that the corporation did not file from 1991 to 1997.

Cataran said this meant that the corporation could no longer operate or engage in any transaction once its license had been revoked.

Cataran was presented by the prosecution team to prove that the license of BGEI was revoked by the SEC when Corona made a cash advance of P11 million in 2003. The cash advance was reflected in Corona’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Networth (SALN) in 2003.

When Senator Panfilo Lacson asked about the status of the corporation from May 2003 to May 2010, the deadline given by the SEC to file an appeal or petition, Cataran said, “When we revoke it’s already effective otherwise what’s the use of revocation if it’s still alive?”

Senator Alan Cayetano followed up Lacson’s question and asked if the corporation could liquidate during that deadline and whether the cash advance could be considered as part of the liquidation.

When asked, however, by Senator Loren Legarda whether the license had been revoked by the time the Chief Justice got the cash advance, the witness said: “We can’t say whether it’s still in operation because they are not submitting reports.”

Senator Franklin Drilon stood up and pointed out that under the SEC regulation, a corporation could no longer operate once its license was revoked but was given three years to wind up.

In the case of the BGEI, Drilon said it ceased to operate because the three years given by the SEC to wind up had lapsed.