5 dollar accounts not in Corona’s SALN

Senator Franklin Drilon and Chief Justice Renato Corona. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—At least five dollar bank accounts allegedly in the name of Chief Justice Renato Corona–one had more than $700,000 deposit—were not declared in his statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN), a senator manifested at Tuesday’s impeachment trial in the Senate.

Senator Franklin Drilon, who sits as judge in the trial, said the five were account numbers 0191000373; 0141019678; 141016962; 0141017659; and 0141-007129 based on the documents that Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales submitted to the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court.

Drilon said that based on the documents, an amount of $768, 733.96 was deposited to account 0191000373 on October 31, 2008 and withdrawn only on December 15, 2011.

He said the deposit should have been reflected in the SALN of the Chief Justice as of December 31, 2008, December 31, 2009 and December 31, 2010.

“Similar manifestation should be made for account 0141-019678 in the amount of $455, 210.70 which was again was exiting as of December 31, 2008 but which is not in the SALN of the respondent,” Drilon said.

For 141-016962, the senator said there was a credit memo deposit in the amount of $300,00 on July 10, 2007 but was withdrawn on August 5 , 2008.

“And therefore, it’s clear that on December 31, 2007, this amount was in account number that we have manifested,” Drilon said, but noted that Corona did not declare this in his SALN as of December 31, 2007.

On November 9, 2007, Drilon said the amount of $299,937.36 was also deposited to account number 0141017659 and withdrawn on August 5, 2007. The amount, he said, should have also been declared in Corona’s 2007 SALN.

And for account number 0141007129, Drilon said a total deposit of $72, 242.44 was made ($57,000 on January 14, 2005 and $15,242.44 on July 19, 2005) and a withdrawal of $89, 059.60 on October 6, 2006.

The transactions, Drilon said, should have appeared in Corona’s 2006 and 2007 SALN.

Corona’s alleged failure to disclose to the public his SALN was one of the grounds in the impeachment case filed against him.