Defense: Is offense impeachable?

The impeachment court should rule on whether or not Chief Justice Renato Corona’s failure to declare the acquisition costs of his properties in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) constitutes an impeachable offense, defense lawyers said on Saturday.

If this were an offense, then all the government officials who followed the prevalent practice of using the fair market value, not acquisition cost, as the basis for declaring the worth of properties in their SALNs should also be held liable, defense lawyer and spokesperson Tranquil Salvador III argued.

“Before you make a ruling on the Chief Justice, is it something that could be reviewed? Is it something that could be corrected? That will lead us to the final question: Is that an impeachable offense? Assuming it’s a noncompliance, is it sufficient to remove him from office?” Salvador told reporters after a forum.

These questions should be resolved by the senator-judges before they issue a verdict, he said.

Corona filled in the fair market value column pertaining to his properties, but left the column of their acquisition cost blank in his 2010 SALN, which was also observed in his SALNs dating back to 2002.

Defense spokesperson Karen Jimeno wondered if such an act would constitute an impeachable offense when government officials, apart from justices, also subscribed to such a practice in the filing of their SALNs.

“If the other government officials, including impeachable officers, failed to fill out everything (including the acquisition cost column), the question that arises is, is that an impeachable offense?… We’re still studying that to show if it’s relevant to the merits of the case, or if this is an institutional practice,” she told the forum at Annabel’s restaurant.

She also agreed that there was a mechanism in the law allowing an official to correct figures in his or her SALN, and that in Corona’s case, if there were errors, he could still rectify them.

All officials liable

She said it was premature to say if the defense would present the SALNs of other government officials to show that this was the prevalent practice.

Salvador said it was logical to say that if the impeachment court finds this to be an impeachable offense, then all the officials who subscribed to this practice should also be held liable.

“That would be a natural consequence. If and when, let’s say he’s acquitted on the sole basis that he did not fill up the acquisition cost column, this should lead the government to reexamine all filings of public officers, from top to bottom, if there were diligent and prudent compliance with the SALN,” he said.

The prosecution claimed on Friday that Corona undervalued his net worth in his 2010 SALN, pointing out that he should have declared a net worth of P80 million based on the acquisition costs of his assets and bank deposits, instead of P22 million.

Fatal to defense

Defense lawyers said they would present witnesses to clarify the issue of acquisition cost in Corona’s SALN, the source of quibbling among senators in last Thursday’s trial. They said this would not necessitate Corona’s testimony.

“We’re not yet there,” Salvador said. “We’re still the ones presenting, how come they (prosecutors) are coming out with such opinions? They used to claim there was only a P20-million discrepancy. If there’s anybody who should make such a conclusion it’s the senator-judges.”

But Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Javier Colmenares, a member of the prosecution panel, insisted the Chief Justice’s failure to disclose the real acquisition cost of his SALN was “fatal” to his defense.