Basa children take up cudgels for their father

DESPERATELY SEEKING JUSTICE The children of Jose Maria Basa III—Carmen, Eric, Ana, Francesca—hold a press conference at the Senate in defense of their father. RAFFY LERMA

Children of Jose Maria Basa III, uncle of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s wife Cristina, on Wednesday said they wanted to continue their father’s quest for justice in the bitter dispute with the Coronas over inherited properties.

“We are ready and willing to argue this in front of the appropriate courts and to continue our late father’s fight for justice,” Carmen Basa said at a press conference.

Carmen said the Basas wanted to find closure for the long-running feud.

“Our family has been going through this stressful time for almost 30 years. We want this to end and not allow this to be passed on to future generations. I don’t want my kids to deal with this,” she said.

Carmen came to the defense of her father, whom the Chief Justice described as a spoiled brat and jobless in the course of his three-hour testimony at the Senate impeachment court on Tuesday to answer questions about his alleged failure to declare various assets in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs).

The family-owned Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc. (BGEI) figured in Corona’s impeachment trial because the sale of one of its properties was used to justify multimillion-peso deposits that were in the name of Corona. BGEI was also allegedly the source of an P11-million cash advance that the Chief Justice had declared in his SALN.

The Chief Justice said it was Jose who had oppressed Cristina’s mother and their family, and even pointed to the series of reports that came out in a newspaper that had supposedly maligned his wife’s character.

Honorable, patriotic

Carmen said that contrary to Corona’s assertion, her father was never unemployed and was an honorable and patriotic man who never gave up his citizenship even as he lived in the US. Jose was a farmer, an entrepreneur and agricultural consultant to the Philippine military, she said.

She also defended her father’s position in the dispute with Cristina over the ownership of a Libis property in Quezon City. She said the property was never in the name of Cristina’s mother Asuncion Roco, contrary to what Corona alleged.

The Chief Justice in his testimony claimed that after Jose sold the Libis property, Asuncion’s name disappeared.

Carmen said their grandmother gave Jose the Libis property when he graduated with a degree in animal husbandry from the University of California in Davis, and was able to develop the land into a farm that raised poultry, fish and pigs.

“Our father worked hard to make the property productive and he was able to pay back the owners of the corporation,” she said.

When asked, Carmen said prosecutors in the trial of Corona were not directly helping the Basas in their legal disputes with Cristina.

But she said that the prosecution had “been able to uncover more things than we ever have.”

She said the Basas had been demanding access to corporate books and accounts for years, but have not seen any.

Anxiety for last 20 years

Carmen also said Jose did not bear the family feud over BGEI lightly, and suffered so much stress and anxiety over the last 20 years of his life.

“And sadly, he did not see justice and these issues were never resolved. And to hear the Chief Justice malign him and his name [on Tuesday] was one of the most painful moments in our lives,” a tearful Carmen told reporters.

She described her father as an “honorable man who strongly believed in the justice system.”

Ana Basa, Carmen’s sister, said her father worked hard to provide for his family and taught his children to be good, not hateful people.

“We were a happy family and my dad and my mom raised us nine children to be simple, caring, giving, loving and respectful people. So, we don’t know how to take all of these things that are being lodged against my dad,” she said.

Ana said her father was not even around to defend himself. “It’s so unfair what he did to slander the good name of my father,” she said.

‘Corona stole from owners’

Whatever the outcome of the cases, it will not be a victory for anybody because of so much pain and suffering the feud has caused, said Ana.

Carmen said it was the Coronas who had “in effect stolen the company [BGEI] from the legitimate owners of the corporation.”

“Despite our differences, we continue to pray for Cristina, the Chief Justice and his family and hope they will find peace and comfort in finally putting all these issues to rest,” Carmen said.