The defense and prosecution panels on Tuesday wrangled over the question when Chief Justice Renato Corona should have declared a condominium unit at The Columns in Makati in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).
Corona’s counsels presented Carmina Cruz of Alveo Land Corp. to “establish” that the Chief Justice’s wife, Cristina, did not “accept” the P3.5-million unit until Aug. 12, 2009.
Defense lawyer Jose Roy III told the court that “there were defects or issues raised with Alveo Land that precluded the free and voluntary acceptance of the unit.”
Under questioning by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Day 32 of the impeachment trial, Cruz, the head of Alveo’s client relations office, admitted that Cristina Corona made no “actual” acceptance of the condominium unit, only a “declaration of deemed acceptance.”
The defense presented photocopies of letters between Cruz and Mrs. Corona, the last of which informed the buyer that the unit was “deemed accepted” on June 7, 2008. The last letter was dated three months later, on Sept. 3.
The first letter dated June 4, 2008, notified Mrs. Corona that the “acceptance of said unit should be on or before June 7, 2008,” according to Cruz.
Private prosecutor Winston Ginez said that “acceptance or actual acceptance is irrelevant insofar as the prosecution is concerned.”
He said “what matters was that the cash paid was made in 2003 and 2004 and they were never reflected in the SALN for 2003 and 2004 and beyond.”
Enrile said “the court takes note of all these facts and takes them into account in the assessment of the evidence.”
In the June 7, 2008, letter, Mrs. Corona wrote Cruz asking for original copies of the tax declaration and the real property tax receipts for that year “so I can settle my payables and accept my unit.”
Cruz replied and informed Mrs. Corona that the documents were available. But she said the buyer could get them only after she settled the real property tax from June 7 to December 2008 amounting to P8,167.50.
“However, we seek your understanding that this does not hinder you from accepting your unit as stated in our previous letter to you. The computation of real property tax will be based upon your acceptance of your unit, which should be on or before June 7, 2008,” Cruz wrote Mrs. Corona.
“Should you fail to personally accept or send a representative to accept the unit, we will nevertheless deem the unit accepted and delivered on June 7, 2008.”
Who determines acceptance?
Under questioning by Roy, Cruz said the property developer was the one that determined if a unit was “deemed accepted.”
In the letter dated Sept. 3, 2008, Alveo informed Mrs. Corona that “rectifications” on her unit “have already been completed” and that she could now claim the keys.
Asked by Roy what “kind of acceptance” had been made by the Chief Justice’s wife at that point, the witness replied: “It is ‘deemed acceptance.’”
The one-bedroom unit in The Columns is not among the assets that Corona listed in his SALN for most of the years he has been in the Supreme Court, according to the prosecution.
Corona’s other high-end assets include a 300.5-square meter penthouse in The Bellagio, allegedly bought for P14.5 million, and another unit in Bonifacio Ridge allegedly purchased at P9.159 million, the prosecution claimed.
His SALN for 2010 reported that a house in Ayala Heights, Quezon City, was sold for P8 million and another in La Vista were sold for P18 million. The proceeds were then used to purchase the units in The Bellagio and Bonifacio Ridge.
According to Corona, a property in McKinley Hill that prosecutors claim is his actually belongs to his daughter, Ma. Charina.
P3.5M should be in SALN
Enrile and Sen. Sergio Osmeña III both observed that while Corona did not declare the unit in The Columns in 2004, his SALN also did not reflect the more than P3.5-million cash used to buy the property.
The failure to do so must be explained, they said.
Osmeña said an asset listed in one’s SALN could be cash, a receivable or a real property.
“As far as we are concerned, we don’t really care whether [the unit] existed or not. It had to be booked in 2003 and 2004 as asset [in Corona’s SALN]. If it was not yet delivered, it should have been booked as receivable from Ayala Land,” Osmeña said. “Otherwise, we have a David Copperfield thing going on here. Now you see it, now you don’t.”
Enrile agreed. “We are all confused about this whole thing. As far as the chair is concerned, we talk of an asset, originally P3.5 million, transformed into a concrete asset known as a condo unit. The unit came into existence when it was constructed. But all along, whatever form of asset it was, that must be reflected in one’s SALN,” he said.
Benz Jhon Ignacio Lim, the property manager of The Columns, said Ayala Property Management Corp. recorded the date of acceptance of the unit on Aug. 12, 2009.
Roy pointed to a paragraph of the contract to sell indicating that until issues or gripes raised by the purchaser were addressed, a “deemed acceptance” cannot take place.