Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said a lawyer of ousted Chief Justice Renato Corona had “made her laugh on a Sunday.”
Valte expressed her amusement on Sunday when she was asked about lawyer Jose Roy’s statement that Corona had set a new standard for transparency when he signed a waiver on his bank accounts during his impeachment trial. She also had some cutting words in response to Roy’s remarks about the ousted Chief Justice teaching taxation law in the near future.
“Attorney Roy is making me laugh on a Sunday,” said Valte over government radio dzRB.
Roy made the statements the other day when Corona was discharged from the hospital.
Corona was removed from the Supreme Court after the Senate impeachment court convicted him for not declaring his assets in accordance with the law.
Over the radio, Valte related how Corona had first resorted to gimmickry before he signed the waiver that aimed to allow his bank accounts to be opened and scrutinized.
She recalled that the first waiver Corona signed was conditional and only allowed the opening of his local deposits and not the foreign deposits.
Valte also noted that it was Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the presiding judge of the trial, who told Corona that his waiver only had to do with the Bank Secrecy Law and not the all-important Foreign Currency Deposits Act.
“It was obvious that it was plain gimmickry and that was why he was forced to write down a waiver on his dollar accounts because Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile made the reminder,” she said.
“So I don’t know what Attorney Roy is particularly referring to when he said that the Chief Justice set a new high standard for transparency,” Valte said.
Asked about the prospect of Corona teaching taxation law, Valte said it would be up to the law schools to hire him considering that there was “academic freedom.”
“But perhaps if it’s taxation law, then maybe he can get a refresher course from (Internal Revenue) Commissioner (Kim) Henares because on the stand (Corona) was saying that he did not know the difference between an asset and a debit and a credit. That’s basic in taxation,” Valte said.