Marikina City Representative Romero Quimbo
Prosecution spokespersons on Thursday said Chief Justice Renato Corona’s P24.6-million balance in his peso accounts with Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) between 2007 and 2010 was just the tip of the iceberg and that more huge deposits were hidden in other accounts, particularly in foreign currency.
Marikina City Representative Romero Quimbo said Corona cited Corona’s three condominium units with a combined cost of P27.2 million and his P20-million account balance in 2010, the year he accepted his midnight appointment from then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
“We have only seen the tip of the iceberg,” Quimbo said. “What we feel is that the balances revealed in Wednesday’s trial were random samples of the chief magistrate’s hidden stash.”
Quimbo said opening Corona’s foreign currency account would open a Pandora’s box.
Quezon Representative Lorenzo Tañada III said the combined balances of the two bank accounts were not reported in Corona’s statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) for 2010.
“It reinforces our appeal that the foreign deposits of the impeached Chief Justice be disclosed in the interest of truth and transparency,” Tañada said.
In his testimony before the Senate impeachment court on Wednesday, PSBank president Pascual Garcia III admitted that Corona maintained five dollar accounts in PSBank.
A bank document presented by the prosecution showed Corona had at least $700,000, or roughly P30 million, in initial deposit in one of the PSBank accounts, and also kept accounts with Bank of the Philippine Islands.
According to Garcia, Corona opened an account in 2009 that had an ending balance of P8.5 million as of Dec. 31 that year. This account ballooned to more than P12.5 million by the end of 2010.
Another account, opened only in 2010, had a balance of P7.148 million also by the end of that year.
However, Quimbo said that Corona only declared “cash and investments” worth P3.5 million in his SALN for 2010, or a discrepancy of P16 million.
“In short, there is a discrepancy of at least 600 or 700 percent in terms of underdeclaring actual cash,” Quimbo said.
Aurora Representative Juan Edgardo Angara, meanwhile, noted that Corona’s peso deposits had suddenly grown by P11 million in 2010, the same year he assumed the top post of the Supreme Court.
Angara said it looked like Corona was awash in cash that year because he still managed to keep a lot of money in the bank despite having bought the controversial penthouse unit at Bellagio Tower in Taguig City.
“We must take note that the 2010 ending balance in his two accounts alone of almost P20 million was posted after he had purchased the Bellagio property,” Angara said.
He pointed out that nearly P20 million found in his two peso accounts with PSBank was already the “net balance” of what he paid for the Bellagio property, which he declared to be worth P6.8 million in his 2010 SALN, but was actually bought for P14.5 million based on the absolute deed of sale earlier presented by the registrar of deeds before the impeachment tribunal.