/ DEFENSE: NOY'S MEN FLOUT SALn RULE
MANILA, MARCH 17, 2012 (MANILA STANDARD) Written by John Anthony
Concepcion - THE senator-judges in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice
Renato Corona (photo) are undecided on whether the omission of the
acquisition cost of a piece of property in the filing of a statement of assets,
liabilities and net worth is an impeachable offense.
At the Palace, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad admitted that he also had some
deficiencies in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth, confirming
the claim of Corona's defense lawyers that even Aquino administration officials
have neglected to put acquisition costs of their assets.
Senator Edgardo Angara said that, in his view, the omission was not that
serious unless the circumstances surrounding its exclusion showed that it was
deliberate and ill-motivated.
"There is a mechanism for correcting it," he said.
"That's why in every office there is supposed to be a compliance officer. The
compliance officer will tell you, 'I think that's wrong.'"
Angara said that he himself was using the acquisition cost in filling out his
statement of assets as he considered it the "most objective" value attributable
to the property.
However, he said, he saw nothing wrong with indicating the fair market value
or assessed value instead of the acquisition cost of a property as Corona did
with his condominiums.
Another senator, Ralph Recto, also said he preferred using the acquisition
cost as this was "the usual practice."
On Thursday, the Corona defense team argued that using the fair market and
assessed values already complied with the law on statements of assets,
liabilities and net worth.
The defense panel presented two city assessors to show that Corona's
statements reflected the fair market value of his properties.
In a statement issued Friday, Abad admitted that he too failed to declare the
acquisition cost and fair market value of his properties.
"In all my years in public service, my attention has never been called on
this, whether by the Civil Service Commission, the Office of the Ombudsman or
the Commission on Appointments."
But Abad expressed willingness to rectify the errors in his listed assets.
"I acknowledge, though, that with respect to my real properties, I have
declared their value based on the assessed value, which has been the basis of
the taxes I have paid against these," he said.
He said he will review his previous statements and include the acquisition
cost and the fair market value of his assets "to the extent that the pertinent
documents are still available."
"This will also be reflected in the SALN that I will file in April for year
2011," he said. With Joyce Pangco Pañares
FROM THE TRIBUNE
ABAD ADMITS USING ASSESSED VALUE ON PROPERTIES By
Benjamin B. Pulta 03/17/2012
Defense: Aquino's men flout SALn rule
[PHOTO - Aquino's Budget Secretary Florencio "Butch" Abad]
The counsels fop Chief Justice Renato Corona yesterday alleged members of the
Aquino Cabinet regularly flout the law requiring disclosure of assets and
liabilities despite the executive department's insistence of using the same law
to persecute the head magistrate.
Noting a recent published report of the Philippine Center for Investigative
Journalism (PCIJ) uncovering shortcomings in the compliance with the disclosure
law by Cabinet officials in filing their statements of assets, liabilities and
net worth (SALns), defense spokesman Ramon Esguerra said the report only proves
that the Aquino administration is only interested in misusing the law to pin
down Corona.
"The malice they are imputing is more imagined than real as the assets were
declared in the pertinent SALns of the CJ," Esguerra told the Tribune in a text
message.
House prosecutors during the impeachment trial the other day in
cross-examining defense witness engineer Roberto Villaluz who is the
officer-in-charge of the Taguig City assessor's office claimed Corona
misdeclared his properties in his SALn by not quoting its acquisition cost.
"It is imperative and relevant for us to show that there is nothing wrong,
legal or otherwise, on the alleged failure of the Chief Justice to indicate in
his SALNs the acquisition costs of his real properties as those costs cannot be
concealed from anyone. The deeds of sale of these properties are public records
available to anyone in the BIR and Register of Deeds," he explained.
Esguerra quoting an earlier published report pointed out that Budget
Secretary Florencio "Butch" Abad also did not indicate the current or fair
market values and acquisition costs of six properties that he owns. The
properties include a house and lot in Quezon City and three lots in Batanes with
a total assessed value of P993,070.
Abad is part of the Ateneo Law batch whose members also include executive
Paquito Ochoa, LRA administrator Eulalio C Diaz III, Bureau of Internal Revenue
Kim Jacinto - Henares and senator Teofisto "TG" Guingona III.
Abad immediately issued a statement acknowledging that he based the
declaration of his real estate properties in his annual SALns on the assessed
values and not the acquisition costs.
"Since I joined the government, I have faithfully submitted my SALn. My
public service records— whether in Congress or Cabinet — will bear me out that I
never missed a year of filing my SALn. Everything I own and their corresponding
value — whether real property, investments or even artwork and books — has been
faithfully disclosed in my SALN," Abad said in his statement.
But Abad said that he acknowledgedthat with respect to his real properties,
"I have declared their value based on the assessed value, which has been the
basis of the taxes I have paid against these."
In all my years in public service, my attention has never been called to
this, whether by the Civil Service Commission, the Office of the Ombudsman or
the Commission on Appointments, he added.
Abad said that in the interest of transparency, he will review his previous
SALns and include the acquisition cost and the fair market value, to the extent
that the pertinent documents are still available.
"This will also be reflected in the SALn that I will file in April for year
2011," he added.
The PCIJ report said another Cabinet official, Health Secretary Enrique Ona,
also failed to accurately disclose details of his wealth after simply typing the
word "various" for his real properties and leaving blank the assessed value and
fair market value of his properties.
Ona, however, declared stocks and investments of P75.43 million and loans
amounting to P5.75 million.
"Although the law is good for public accountability, many fall short when it
comes to its implementation," Esguerra commented on radio even as he said this
does not exempt Corona from following the law.
The Tribune also earlier reported that Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima had
not made proper disclosures in his SALNs.
Purisima's 2010 SALn stated investments in Filhouse Gem Inc. worth P121
million, MHC commercial worth P9 million and cash and investments worth P85
million as his main source of personal and other properties along with shares in
various country clubs and jewelry and art collections worth P10 million.
He listed the years when he acquired the properties as "various" that run
counter to the requirement of detailed disclosures.
A member of the House prosecution panel, meanwhile, expressed serious doubts
that Corona had used government funds to purchase condominiums and other posh
properties in Metro Manila.
According to Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, the defense panel had failed to
account for the real income of the chief justice relative to his properties
which was purchased when he came to the Supreme Court.
"Firstly, his supposed P 21 million 10-year-income reported by witness
Araceli Bayuga is not all income as it includes representation and
transportation allowance, augmentation budget for the Supreme Court Christmas
parties or gifts, and other budgetary allowances. CJ Corona cannot spend the
budget for his official functions to buy condominiums as this could constitute
malversation especially since CJ Corona himself certified that these were spent
in the implementation of his official functions," Colmenares said in a statement
yesterday.
Colmenares explained that if Corona had used the funds of the Supreme Court
in buying some of his properties, he should have declared that in his SALN.
Colmenares said that the P21 million that was alleged to have been earned by
the Chief Justice during his incumbency at the High Court, will not even be
enough for him to buy his condominiums at the Bellagio (P14.5 milyon) and at
McKinley Hill (P9 milyon).
"His income is definitely less than the amount he spent in acquiring the
properties. This is unexplained wealth, period," Colmenares said.
Reps. Juan Edgardo Angara of Aurora and Lorenzo Tañada 3rd of Quezon,
spokespersons of the prosecution panel, in a press conference echoed the same
sentiments. They said that based on the testimonies of four defense witnesses
during the impeachment trial Corona could not have bought his properties with an
aggregate income of P26 million starting from the time when he was associate
justice of the Supreme Court.
"The defense wants to show that Corona has enough money to buy these
properties, but it is clear, as stated by their own witnesses, that his income
is not enough. There is deception on the part of the defense," Tañada said..
Angara pointed out that Corona only declared his Bellagio and Bonifacio Ridge
properties in his 2010 SALN even if they were purchased in 2004 and 2005 and
undervalued them to P6 million and P2.3 million respectively.
Such inconsistencies, Angara noted, explains the top jurist's inaccurate
Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) as alleged by the
prosecution.
"It is clear that it is the Chief Justice who affixed his signature in his
SALN. They can't say that oh, we are sorry, we made a mistake," Angara added.
In 2010 alone, the Chief Justice only declared P3.5 million worth of cash
even if he has P31 million worth of bank deposits as of December 31, 2010.
Tañada, for his part, pointed out that the Chief Justice cannot argue that
the SALN form is defective in the first place as claimed by Senator-judge
Vicente Sotto 3rd because it creates confusion with the acquisition cost and
fair market value.
Tañada and Angara explained that there is no question about the SALN form
having blank spaces for acquisition costs and fair market value prices. They
said that the issue is not about fair market value but the acquisition cost of
Corona's properties which he did not fill up.
"The question is not on the SALN form. The law requires that all government
employees should have truthful disclosure in their SALN. The form cannot be
blamed," Tañada said. Gerry Baldo
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS
ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
phno-digest@yahoogroups.com
phno-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
