4 witnesses testify for Corona on Day 31 of trial

MANILA, Philippines—With the trial now a month old, defense lawyers on Monday presented a witness to disown five more properties which the prosecution alleged belonged to Chief Justice Renato Corona and should have been declared in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs).

Corona’s counsels called Carlo Alcantara, head of Quezon City’s register of deeds, to prove that the Chief Justice did not have to declare four properties in question in his SALN for 2010, supposedly because he did not own them.

The defense also put Makati City assessor Mario Badillo on the witness stand to “establish the accuracy of the entries” in Corona’s SALN for that same year.

Badillo testified that the assessed value (P726,000) and fair market value (P1,210,000) declared in Corona’s SALN for The Columns unit were based on the values reflected in the tax declaration.

Under questioning by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the presiding officer in the impeachment trial, the witness said his office had determined the market value in 2008. He said the value was still the same at present.

The defense panel recalled Alcantara, who previously testified for the prosecution, to explain why Corona did not include in his 2010 SALN the Quezon City properties such as those located in Ayala Heights, La Vista, Cubao, and Kalayaan Avenue.

Dennis Manalo, who conducted the direct examination of Alcantara, said there was also no basis to declare in the SALN a parking space for a Burgundy condominium unit registered under the names of Corona and his wife Cristina.

Before the start of the trial, prosecutors alleged that Corona and his wife owned a total of 45 properties, based on a letter they secured from Eulalio Diaz III, Land Registration Authority administrator (LRA).

Senators like Francis Escudero confronted the prosecutors about the accusation later in the trial.

Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., the lead House prosecutor, then admitted that his camp presented evidence on only 21 properties, including parking lots. Corona earlier insisted that he owned only five properties.

Stipulation on values

Corona’s lawyers showed up on Day 31 of the trial without the lead defense counsel, 84-year-old Serafin Cuevas, who was sick.

Joel Bodegon took Cuevas’ place while fellow defense counsels Tranquil Salvador, Jose Roy III, and Manalo took turns in conducting direct examinations.

Both the defense and the prosecution panels sought to expedite the proceedings by seeking a “stipulation” from the prosecution on the fair market and assessed values of The Columns unit declared in the 2010 SALN.

After an initial disagreement, Sen. Franklin Drilon talked with both camps during the break to make them agree that the values declared in the SALN were based on the tax declaration.

But things came to a head again after Salvador manifested: “Yes, your honor, and my understanding is that it was and it was accurate. To that effect, I agree.”

Private prosecutor Jose Benjamin Panganiban objected to the word “accurate,” saying “that is the word that we are trying to avoid here.”

“You cannot say that it is accurate because it does not reflect the current market value. Counsel is changing the stipulation,” he manifested.

Canceled title

Since both sides could not agree, Enrile ordered that Badillo take the stand. His direct examination was brief and the prosecution conducted no cross-examination.

In a separate testimony, Alcantara told the impeachment court that the Coronas’ Ayala Heights property’s transfer certificate of title (TCT) was already a “canceled” title. It was sold to Rodel and Amelia Rivera on Feb. 26, 2010, for P8 million.

The 1,200-square-meter property in La Vista was previously owned by the Chief Justice and his wife. But as per Alcantara’s testimony, it was sold to the Coronas’ daughter Carla and her husband Constantino Castillo on Nov. 9, 2010, for P18 million.

The property located in Cubao was registered to Carla and Constantino Castillo, who acquired it from one Daniel Encina for P10.5 million on Dec. 15, 2003.

The Castillos were also the registered owners of the Kalayaan property, which they bought on March 11, 2009, for P15 million. The property has an existing encumbrance of P12 million borrowed from The Bank of Philippine Islands, as annotated in its TCT.

“As far as the records of the registry of deeds (are concerned), no cancellation yet has been registered on that encumbrance,” the witness said.

Parking space

Alcantara also testified that the parking space of Corona’s Burgundy unit belonged to the condominium developer. He told Enrile that the Coronas were using the parking lot only as a matter of “usufruct.”

Manalo said the testimony was intended to “prove the basis for the noninclusion of the parking space in the Burgundy condominium in the SALN of Chief Justice Corona beginning 2003.”