Acquisition cost more damning than assessed value in Corona case, prosecution lawyer says

MANILA, Philippines—Chief Justice Renato Corona’s failure to disclose the acquisition cost of his properties in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth will prove to be fatal in his case  because his income was way lower  in his sworn declarations, Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Javier Colmenares said Saturday.

“The defense should stop presenting witnesses and testimonies that would only further incriminate Corona,” Colmenares said.

He said one of the most important values in the SALN is the acquisition costs of property, because they reflect actual amounts Corona paid for his properties and are directly related to the issue of corruption and unexplained wealth.

The issue is  a crucial one, Colmenares said, because if the acquisition costs of Corona’s properties exceed his lawful income, then that would tend to show unexplained wealth which he will have to properly account for.

Colmenares pointed out that fair market value, or even assessed value, only describes the value of the current assets, while acquisition cost is the most accurate barometer of whether Corona has more  money than what he actually earned or declared in his SALN.

He said Corona’s supposed P21-million income over 10 years as testified to by witness Araceli Bayuga was not all income as it included representation and transportation allowances, augmentation budget for the Supreme Court’s Christmas parties or gifts, and other budgetary allowances.

“Chief Justice Corona cannot spend the budget for his official functions to buy condominiums as this could constitute malversation especially since CJ Corona himself certified that these were spent in the implementation of his official functions,” Colmenares said.

“Secondly, even assuming that the P21 million is indeed income, the amount is completely wiped out by his acquisition of the Bellagio (P14 million) and McKinley (P9 million) properties, the acquisition cost of which is already P23 million,” he said.

Any additional income from his other functions, which are of smaller amounts, cannot justify the acquisition cost of many other properties worth millions, including his peso bank deposits.

“His income is definitely less than the amount he spent in acquiring the properties. This is unexplained wealth, period,” Colmenares said.

Colmenares said  the theory that the “mistakes” of the chief justice do not rise to the level of an impeachable offense was not acceptable to the people, especially since many judges and court employees have been removed from office for much lesser offenses.

“In fact, anything less than a satisfactory explanation of where his wealth came from, cannot result in an acquittal of the chief justice as it will only put any of SC decisions on graft and corruption into  questionable disrepute. Failure to explain means he has lost his moral fitness to stay in office,” Colmenares added.

For his part, Marikina Rep. Romero Quimbo, one of the prosecution’s official spokespersons, said that as far as Corona’s SALN was concerned, people should not forget that the chief justice not only failed to put the acquisition cost but, more significantly, he failed to declare them at all for several years.

Quimbo noted that Corona acquired three condominium units in 2004, 2005 and 2009 but declared them only in his 2010 SALN filed on April 28, 2011.

“It begets more questions why he only declared all these condos, with total acquisition cost of P26 million, when talk of his impeachment was already rife,”  he said.