Robredo clears Corona over use of SUV with fake license plate

A bit of good news for Chief Justice Renato Corona, who is now on tenterhooks as he awaits his conviction or acquittal by the Senate impeachment court.

Corona may have been placed in bad light, but he is not necessarily criminally liable for using a vehicle with a fake license plate when he went to the Senate to take the witness stand last week.

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo believes Corona has no liability if he did not know that the black bulletproof sports utility vehicle, a Chevrolet Suburban, he had been intermittently renting for two months was using a plate number that belonged to another vehicle.

Corona cannot be faulted “unless there is a clear indication that he knows that it is a hot car,” Robredo said.

“I think he does not know…. The one who should be investigated is the one who rented it,” Robredo told reporters when interviewed at the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame on Monday.

“(But) even if he has no legal liability, it’s not right and it does not look good that the Chief Justice uses a vehicle with a fake license plate,” Robredo said.

He said the investigation by the PNP Highway Patrol Group (HPG) would find out if the SUV was being rented by the Chief Justice personally or by the Supreme Court for his use.

But the interior secretary wondered out loud if the P12,000 daily rental rate was allowed under law.

Robredo said he wanted to know the car rental conditions and the Commission on Audit rules on the rental of vehicles by government personnel.

Asked if he was clearing Corona, Robredo said, “I think no one can be [absolved] if the investigation is not yet finished.”

Citing a report from the HPG, Robredo said the SUV was never registered with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) since it was imported in 2009.

A certain Mark Anthony Lopez of Viking Haulers Inc., who was found to own the SUV, claimed he imported the 2005 model Suburban from California in 2009.

Corona’s televised testimony before the Senate impeachment trial on Friday prompted a Cebu-based businessman to complain to the HPG that the Chief Justice’s vehicle bore the same Plate No. ZEE 868 of his company’s vehicle, a white Mitsubishi L300 van.

Robredo said the SUV owner was liable for “willful(ly)” using the vehicle without having it registered. Car registration is done every year.

“I think the one who is at fault is the one who imported the vehicle…. First, it has no license plate and it got another vehicle’s license plate,” Robredo said.

He said there was no excuse for not having the vehicle registered.

But Robredo said the van would not be impounded yet in consideration of Corona’s “medical emergency,” referring to the Chief Justice’s confinement at the Medical City after he testified at the impeachment trial last Tuesday.

He said the SUV owner was made to sign an undertaking to turn over the vehicle to authorities anytime.

“After this impeachment hearing, it will be impounded,” Robredo said.