SEC official testifies on Corona’s P11M cash advance

MANILA, Philippines – An official of the Securities and Exchange Commission was called to the witness stand on Wednesday  in relation  to an P11 million cash  advance  that  Chief Justice Renato Corona  allegedly drew from  a company owned  by the family of his wife.

Benito Cataran is director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s corporate registration and monitoring department.

Corona’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Networth in 2003 showed that he had taken out a cash advance of P11 million from the Basa-Guidote Enterprises, Inc.  and which was listed under Corona’s liabilities.

The entry appears in Corona’s SALNs in the succeeding years up to 2009 although the  value gradually decreased to P10 million in 2005; P8 million in 2006; P6.5 in 2007;  P5 million in 2008;  P3 million in 2009.