Defense seeks to prove Corona only has 5 properties

MANILA, Philippines – Defense counsel Tranquil Salvador said Tuesday that they aimed to prove that Chief Justice Renato Corona only owned five properties out of the 45 that were publicized when the impeachment trial began.

Salvador said that when the impeachment trial began, newspapers reported there were 45 properties owned by Corona.

“But after a few weeks, the prosecution was asked [by the impeachment court] ‘how many titles can you really present to us?’ they answered 24,” Salvador recalled during a press briefing after the day’s proceedings.

He added that out of those 24 properties, four were parking lots, leaving only 20 properties left.

During the day’s proceedings, the defense presented 70-year old Demetrio Vicente, a cousin of Cristina Corona, who testified that he bought eight properties in Marikina City from Cristina in 1990 and built a house on two of the lots.

Vicente said he has been living there ever since and has been paying the corresponding taxes even though the properties have yet to be transferred to his name because he ran out of money to pay the required transfer tax.

“Let’s subtract what [Vicente] testified to today, less eight [properties], 12 are left,” Salvador said.

“From the start, we said there are only five properties [owned by Corona]. We are now only talking about 12,” Salvador said. “Let’s wait and see in the coming days if we can truly prove that there are only five properties owned by the Chief Justice,” he added.