ILL-GOTTEN WEALTH
MANILA, JANUARY
6,
2012 (STAR) By Edu Punay (The Philippine
Star) Chief Justice Renato Corona has admitted owning a condominium unit in
Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, but his lawyer said it is conjugal property and
dismissed as "conjectural and speculative" insinuations that it was a product of
ill-gotten wealth.
Corona's lead lawyer, retired Supreme Court justice Serafin Cuevas, said the
embattled Chief Justice had already
addressed the issue in his rebuttal of the Articles of Impeachment submitted
to the Senate last Dec. 26.
"They are really trying to demonize the CJ," Cuevas told reporters.
"My honest opinion is it (public disclosure of the property) should not have
been done because we are prohibited from discussing in public the merits and
demerits of our respective articulation or postulation. That is in accordance to
the rules of the Senate. By doing so, it's like they are arguing this case
before the public," he said.
The House, in its complaint filed last Dec. 12 and signed by 188 congressmen,
had alleged that the property could have come from ill-gotten wealth, but
presented no proof.
"Complainants speculate that he (Corona) has not reported this in his SALN
(Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth) and that its price is beyond
his income as a public official. CJ Corona admits that he and his wife purchased
on installment a 300-sq. m. apartment in Taguig, declared in his SALN when they
acquired it," he said, quoting Corona's answer.
Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas, head of the 11-member House prosecution panel,
presented to the media last Tuesday documents showing that Corona and his wife
Ma. Cristina had bought a 303.5-square meter unit and three parking slots at the
Bellagio in December 2009 and were given the corresponding titles in their names
in January 2010. The unit is on the 38th floor.
Why hire private lawyers?
Meanwhile, Corona's lawyers are also questioning the House prosecution team's
plan to hire the services of private lawyers.
Cuevas said that based on impeachment rules of procedures, the House panel
should be the "sole prosecutor" in the case.
"The House of Representatives shall act as the sole prosecutor at the trial
in the Senate through a committee of 11 members thereof to be elected by a
majority vote," he said, quoting Rule VI, Section 15 of the House rules of
procedure in impeachment proceedings.
"They're saying they are prepared, that they are competent. Then why do they
need private prosecutors?" Cuevas said in Filipino.
Cuevas said the House prosecution panel should not use as an excuse the
participation of private prosecutors in the impeachment trial of former
President Joseph Estrada.
"They are citing that (Estrada impeachment) as jurisprudence of precedent.
How can that be when that was not terminated? That was not finished," Cuevas
argued.
"Aren't (prosecutors) expected to comply with (House) rules first before
rules of Senate?" another Corona lawyer, Dennis Manalo, asked in a separate
interview.
The Chief Justice's lawyers were reacting to the reported move of the House
prosecution team to tap lawyer Mario Bautista as chief private prosecutor. It
was Bautista, a private prosecutor in the impeachment trial of Estrada, who
presented key witness Clarissa Ocampo before the Senate impeachment court. Ten
private law firms have reportedly offered to help the prosecution panel.
Corona's lawyers also rebuffed the prosecution panel's allegation that they
were delaying the impeachment proceedings with their plea for preliminary
hearing in the Senate.
"They say we are delaying the proceedings... but that's part of our answer
and the law allows that," he said.
"I would like to believe the first day will not proceed immediately on the
trial of the merits. There are so many preliminaries that may take place and may
eat up the agenda of the impeachment court of that day," Cuevas said. "Second,
we have alleged in our answer an affirmative defense."
Cautioned
A day after releasing documents on Corona's alleged questionable acquisition
of property in Fort Bonifacio Global City, the House prosecution panel was
reminded that it might have violated the rules of the impeachment trial with its
disclosure.
"As a senator, I cannot sit idly by and watch blatant violations of our rules
of procedure on impeachment trials that unambiguously prohibit senator-judges as
well as the prosecutors, the person impeached, their counsels and witnesses from
making any comments and disclosures in public pertaining to the merits of a
pending impeachment trial," Sen. Panfilo Lacson said in a statement.
"If we allow such undisciplined public presentation of evidence by any party
in utter disregard of the ethics of their legal profession to continue, the
Senate may lose control of the situation and I am certain it will damage not
just the Senate as an impeachment court, but the sacredness of the whole
impeachment process as well," Lacson said.
"Hopefully, if they want to say anything, let them say it before the
impeachment court and hopefully they will realize that they are bound by the
rules on decorum that they cannot use gutter language so to speak when they are
appearing before the Senate impeachment court," Sen. Francis Escudero said.
"They should present their evidence to the Senate. They should not present it
to the media," Sen. Jinggoy Estrada said. "It will be the impeachment court that
will eventually decide on the case." - With Marvin Sy,
Christina Mendez, Helen Flores
'CJ has ill-gotten wealth' By Delon Porcalla (The
Philippine Star) Updated January 05, 2012 12:00 AMComments (110)
The Senate session hall has been spruced up for the impeachment trial
of Chief Justice Renato Corona starting Jan. 16. Manny
Marcelo
MANILA, Philippines - A key member of President Aquino's Cabinet said
yesterday the government has evidence to prove that Chief Justice Renato Corona
has ill-gotten wealth that could not have been acquired with his salary in the
judiciary, and the evidence would be presented by the House prosecution team in
the impeachment trial.
"The House prosecution panel obtained documents that would show that Corona
may have amassed ill-gotten wealth, including at least four multimillion-peso
real estate properties," Presidential Adviser on Political Affairs Ronald Llamas
said in a statement.
Corona, who was appointed to the Supreme Court (SC) in 2001 and promoted to
chief justice in May 2010, "could not have paid for (the properties) out of his
salary and allowances as an associate justice and chief justice of the SC,"
Llamas declared.
Llamas believes that the government's case is "very strong" and that all of
the pieces of evidence – including documents on a P14.5-million penthouse unit
at the Bellagio condominium in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig – could withstand
"the most rigorous scrutiny" by the senator-judges in Corona's trial.
Corona said yesterday that his acquisition of the Bellagio unit was
aboveboard.
Llamas said the impeachment complaint "is the product of thorough research
and inputs submitted by concerned citizens who could no longer stand the willful
and deliberate trampling of the Constitution and the rule of law by Corona,"
Llamas said.
"The impeachment complaint is not the complaint of 188 representatives of the
people against Corona. It is the complaint of the overwhelming majority of
Filipinos who want Corona removed because they want a clean, honest and
impartial judiciary," Llamas said.
"Corona sits in the High Tribunal on the basis of an illegal appointment by
disgraced former President Arroyo who now faces serious charges of electoral
sabotage and plunder during her nine years of misrule," Llamas said.
He said that apart from being a midnight appointee as chief justice, "Corona
has shown obvious partiality and bias for Arroyo in 19 cases brought before the
Supreme Court."
Llamas was reacting to the recent statement of court administrator and
spokesman Midas Marquez that his (Llamas') admission that Corona's likely
acquittal by the Senate sitting as an impeachment court was an indication that
the cases against him are weak.
The Cabinet member said he was merely talking of likely outcomes in the
trial, and "an acquittal is a possibility, just as a conviction is also a
distinct - and very real - possibility."
"For the SC spokesman to speculate that the senator-judges would dismiss the
complaint because it is weak is very unseemly, and preempts the decision of the
Senate. He has no authority to spread rumors about how the senator-judges would
vote," Llamas said.
Zeroing in on Corona's SALN
Meanwhile, the House prosecution panel will ask the Senate impeachment court
to subpoena Corona's statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) for
2010.
"They are refusing to release the SALN despite our repeated appeal. We have
no option but to ask the impeachment court to subpoena it during the trial,"
panel spokesman Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo told a news conference.
Quimbo said prosecutors want to find out if Corona made a "proper
declaration" of the 300-square-meter penthouse unit at the Bellagio Tower in
Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, which the Chief Justice and his wife acquired
in 2009 for P14.5 million.
"We want to ask him how they purchased the property, if they had the legal
means to acquire it. We will prove that they did not have such means," he said.
Quimbo said under the law on forfeiture, an asset is deemed ill-gotten if its
owner does not have the legal resources to own it.
He said they would also ask the impeachment court to subpoena sales documents
and witnesses from Megaworld Corp., owner of the Bellagio condominium complex.
"We want to find out if P14.5 million was the correct selling price for the
Coronas' penthouse. The unit is now worth at least P30 million. We do not think
it was worth only P14.5 million two years ago. The difference between the
selling price for the Coronas and prevailing market prices could have been a
gift to the Chief Justice and his wife," he said.
In his answer to the impeachment complaint, the Chief Justice acknowledged
declaring a 300-square-meter property in his SALN but gave no other details.
Two other panel members, Reps. Erin Tañada of Quezon and Juan Edgardo Angara
of Aurora, said they did not believe that two to three congressmen would testify
for Corona's defense.
"Good luck to them, if they do testify," Angara said.
They also took exception to statements from some senators that they are
violating the sub-judice rule of the Senate in revealing the Coronas' Bellagio
penthouse.
"This is a case of the people versus the Chief Justice. The people have a
right to know," Tañada said.
Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., who heads the prosecution panel, said he and his
colleagues did not touch on the merits of the impeachment charges in revealing
the Bellagio penthouse.
"We only stated a fact as alleged in the complaint. Further, the people have
the right to know the facts in an impeachment proceeding, which is actually the
power of the sovereign people," he said.
Tañada also said they would agree to a pre-trial conference but not to
Corona's proposal for a preliminary hearing on how the House impeached him.
"That motion is clearly intended to delay the trial proper," he said.
He said a pre-trial conference could expedite the trial as the prosecution
and the defense could agree on issues that no longer have to be proven. - With Jess Diaz
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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rights reserved
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