Senator Ralph Recto
MANILA, Philippines – Senator Ralph Recto voted to convict Chief Justice Renato Corona Tuesday.
Recto said that Corona’s non-declaration of his $2 million and P80 million deposits in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth (SALN) “could not be brushed aside as innocent exclusions”
Recto said that no SALN document could ever be exact down to the last peso and they could not be very strict in measuring the accuracy of each SALN because then “no government official would be left behind their desk.”
He said however that Corona’s “assets are so huge, 50 times more than what he declared, that they cannot be brushed aside as innocent exclusions.”
Corona testified that he did not declare his $2 million deposits because it was “absolutely confidential” under the Foreign Currency Deposits Act.
He also said that the more than P80 million deposits were also not declared in his SALN because it was “co-mingled” funds composed of money from his wife’s corporation and his children.
It is “mandatory for public officers to submit true declarations of their assets,” Recto said.
Recto said that “Corona had punished his fellow public officials for much lesser amounts.”
“He should have declared his [assets in his SALN],” Recto said.