BIR chief seen in Senate

Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares. File photo

MANILA, Philippines – Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares was seen inside the Senate Wednesday, the sixth day of the impeachment trial against Chief Justice Renato Corona.

The BIR official is one of the witnesses the prosecution panel plans to present within the week.

Prosecution team spokesperson Marikina Representative Romero Quimbo on Tuesday told reporters that Henares would most likely be called to the witness stand to shed light on Corona’s and his family’s income tax returns (ITRs).

The prosecution, however, was unable to present their witnesses as debates on Article 2 of the Articles of Impeachment took most of the court’s time.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the presiding officer, noted Tuesday that Article 2 of the impeachment complaint had been  “expanded” by the prosecution from its original allegation that Corona committed culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayed the public trust by supposedly failing to disclose his SALNs.

The unresolved objection of the defense against evidence on alleged ill-gotten wealth embodied in Article 2 set off yet another exchange with the prosecution on the fifth day of the impeachment trial.

Defense counsels on Tuesday filed a motion seeking to prevent Henares from testifying in the impeachment court and producing the income tax returns (ITRs) of Corona and his family.

“The presentation of the ITRs and tax certificates of the Corona children should not be allowed for being without basis, irrelevant, and immaterial to these proceedings,” Corona’s lawyers said in a six-page motion.

“The testimony of Commissioner Henares on the ITRs and tax certificates of the Corona children, as well as the presentation thereof, are therefore irrelevant and immaterial to the issue of whether or not CJ Corona failed to disclose his SALN to the public,” they stressed.