OMBUDSMAN:
CJ's 'fresh deposits' MORE THAN $12M / CJ: 'LANTERN OF LIES'
[PHOTO - Conchita
Carpio-Morales ( Current Ombudsman of the Philippines ) SENATE POOL]
MANILA,
MAY 15, 2012
(INQUIRER) By Maila Ager - Chief Justice Renato Corona
has "fresh deposits" amounting to more than $12 million, Ombudsman Conchita
Carpio-Morales on Monday told the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court.
"I think my computation which was arrived at with the assistance of a CPA
(certified public accountant) lawyer is that fresh deposits, which means they
never moved, they remained in that particular (account) amounted to more than 12
million dollars…," Morales said, based on the report furnished to her by the
Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).
Morales gave the statement when Senator Ferdinand "Bong-Bong" Marcos Jr.
asked whether the total amount of Corona's alleged dollar deposits in 82
accounts totaled $10 million.
"It's even more," said the Ombudsman in response to Marcos' query.
Before this, Morales testified that Corona owned 82 US dollar accounts in
five banks amounting to at least $10 million.
Citing the AMLC report, Morales said the Chief Justice also made "significant
deposits and withdrawals on very significant dates."
"The Chief Justice has at least $10 million in transactional balances. He has
82 US dollar accounts in five banks," she said.
"There were significant deposits and withdrawals on very significant dates –
during the 2004 and 2007 elections as well as the week he was impeached –
December 12, 13, 15, 19, 20, and 22, 2011..," she said.
Corona was impeached at the House of Representatives last December 12, 2011.
On the day he was impeached, Morales said Corona had a "time deposit for
termination" of $418,193.32.
The said amount, she said, was added to a BPI account of Corona in San
Francisco del Monte branch but that $417, 978.80 of the amount was placed in a
regular fund placement.
Morales said Corona had only one dollar account in 2003, or a year before he
was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court during the time of former
President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
But in 2004, Corona opened 13 more dollar accounts and additional nine in
2005, or a total of 23 dollar accounts from 2003 to 2005 alone.
In 2006, Corona opened additional 12 dollar accounts, 35 more in 2007 and
another 14 accounts in 2008.
So by 2008, Morales said Corona had a total of 49 dollar accounts and added
another 14 accounts in 2009, bringing the number to 63.
From 63 accounts, Morales said Corona again opened 12 dollar accounts in 2009
and six more accounts in 2010. "In 2011, he had 81 dollar accounts, and he added
one account; that gives a total of 82 dollar accounts," said the Ombudsman.
Corona was appointed Chief Justice by Arroyo in 2010.
Morales said Corona's dollar accounts were spread in various banks in the
country—eight accounts in the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) in Acropolis,
San Juan; 18 accounts in BP1-Tandang Sora; 34 in San Francisco del Monte; one in
BPI Management Investment Corp.; eight in Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) in
Cainta; six in PSBank Katipunan; four in Allied Bank Corp.; one in Citibank; and
two in Deutsche Bank.
Commission on Audit Commissioner Heidi Mendoza, who was requested by the
Ombudsman to take over and elaborate on her analysis, said the total "inflow"of
Corona's dollar accounts amounted to $28.740 million from April 2003 to December
2011.
The total "outflow" consisting of withdrawals, debit memos, purchases,
electronic payment, and outward remittances, Mendoza said, amounted to $30.758
million.
"As you can observe, the withdrawal is bigger than the inflow simply because
we have to emphasize that these are the transactions captured by the AMLC," she
said.
"We are trying to show the circuitous movement of funds…there are many
accounts created and all of them are in the name of the respondent," Mendoza
added.
Asked about Corona's bank transactions in peso, the Commissioner could not
initially provide an answer but she later told the Senate, "The peso account I
was told reached around 242 million."
Mendoza did not give further details on Corona's peso accounts.
Corona dares Ombudsman to resign if she's proven wrong on
dollar allegations By Tetch Torres INQUIRER.net 8:46 pm | Monday, May
14th, 2012
MANILA, Philippines–Chief Justice Renato Corona branded as "lantern
of lies" the testimony Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and dared her to resign
if they prove her wrong.
In a statement, the Chief Justice said the allegations that he has 82 dollar
accounts is "quite unfortunate, if not very malicious."
"I do not know how she came up with her own mathematical equation. She made a
hodgepodge out of the accounts, making her numbers chaotic… The number of
accounts alone is at best ridiculous. Her powerpoint diagram is a lantern of
lies which only messed up her presentation, contrary to what some believe now as
damning evidence."
"Either she does not know what she is talking about or is purposely
misleading the Impeachment Court and the public. Is she even privy to how the
AMLC arrived at the bloated numbers? We will debunk all her bloated numbers. And
once she is proven wrong, I urge her to immediately resign from her post for
allowing herself to be used by this Administration and making a laughingstock of
'government auditing.'"
The AMLC is the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
Based on her own analysis of a report furnished to her by the AMLC, Morales
said the Chief Justice also made "significant deposits and withdrawals on very
significant dates."
"The Chief Justice has at least $10 million in transactional balances. He has
82 US dollar accounts in five banks," she said.
Morales said Corona's dollar accounts were spread in various banks in the
country; eight accounts in Bank of the Philippine Island (BPI) in Acropolis, San
Juan; 18 accounts in BP1-Tandang Sora; 34 in San Francisco, del Monte; one in
BPI Management Investment Corp.; eight in Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) in
Cainta; six in PSBank, Katipunan; four in Allied Bank Corporation; one in
Citibank; and two in Deutsche bank.
Morales and four others were subpoenaed by the Senate, sitting as an
impeachment court in connection with the $10 million bank deposit allegedly
owned by the Chief Justice.
The four were Akbayan Representative Walden Bello, Akbayan spokesperson Risa
Hontiveros, civil society leader Harvey Keh and Emmanuel Tiu Santos,
complainants in a case filed against Corona before the Office of the Ombudsman.
THE BGEI ASSETS: CORONA IN-LAWS SPEAK
UP
MANILA, MAY 15, 2012 (INQUIRER) By
Ma. Ceres P. Doyo - 'Why were we not asked to bid for BGEI?' -
When some members of the family of the late Mario Basa discussed
whether they should come out of the shadows and speak about what they knew then
and knew now about Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc. (BGEI) assets, someone from the
younger generation piped in with the saying: "Evil triumphs when good men do
nothing."
The BGEI assets are the subject of scrutiny at the impeachment trial of Chief
Justice Renato Corona.
One of the things the Basa family didn't know then was that Carla
Corona-Castillo, a daughter of Corona, now owns BGEI.
Flor Maria "Flory" Basa-Montalvan took the saying as a sign to go ahead.
Still, doubts remained. "Then [on Thursday] night," she told the Inquirer, "my
late aunt, Sr. Concepcion Basa of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (FMM),
appeared to me in a dream. She was smiling."
[PHOTO - SISTER FLORY BASA]
The dream was very vivid, she said, and it gave her courage to call the
Inquirer so that her branch of the Basa-Guidote family, despite fear and
trepidation, could say its piece, for whatever purpose it may serve.
"Something inside me was saying that I should help bring out the truth,"
Flory said.
At one time, Flory said, members of the media managed to enter a gated
subdivision in Quezon City and camped out in front of the family home where her
mother, Cecilia Henson-Basa, lives, but they all shied away from media
interviews.
Flory is the third of the nine children of Mario Basa and his wife Cecilia.
She was named after her aunt, Sr. Flor Maria Basa, FMM. Mario is one of the five
children of Jose Ma. Basa II and Rosario Guidote and among the heirs of the
Basa-Guidote estate.
Flory is the first cousin of Corona's wife Cristina, whose role in BGEI and
in handling its assets is being scrutinized in the impeachment trial because of
its relevance to the Chief Justice's statement of assets, liabilities and net
worth (SALN).
Flory is also the first cousin of Ana Basa, daughter of another Basa, the
late Jose Ma. Basa III. Ana flew in from the United States in March to talk
about her family's sad experience with her cousin Cristina. (See "We were
oppressed by the Coronas" and "We're talking only now due to revelations in
trial" by Cynthia Balana, Inquirer, March 6 and 7, respectively.)
The only living original Basa heir, Sister Flor Maria, has supported the
claims of her niece Ana. The spunky 90-year-old nun was the main subject of a
two-part series (by this writer, in the Inquirer, May 5 and 6).
The original Basa-Guidote heirs are Sister Concepcion, Mario (Flory
Montalvan's father), Asuncion Basa-Roco (Cristina Corona's mother), Sister Flor
Maria and Jose Ma. III (Ana Basa's father).
Long ago, idyllic setting
"We used to live in one compound on Lepanto Street," Flory recalled her
growing-up years with her cousins. "We would all ride in one car to school."
Cristina was among them.
That long-ago, ideal and idyllic setting and togetherness are no more, not
only because everybody had grown up and now live lives of their own, but because
of issues concerning family properties that, several Basas allege, have been
wrested away in one fell swoop and are now in the possession of a person married
to power.
It is now public knowledge that Cristina (one of the eight children of
Asuncion Basa and Vicente Roco) figures prominently in the impeachment trial
because of BGEI assets that have been invoked as among the sources of the
Coronas' declared and undeclared net worth. It is a labyrinthine trail that
continues to baffle and befuddle.
When the impeachment trial resumed on May 7 after a recess of more than one
month, Corona's defense and witnesses were hard put explaining the trail.
Flory and her eight siblings have been closely following the impeachment
trial in which their first cousin Cristina has been implicated. What does Flory
want to say now? What has her own family been through?
Ana's 'brave move'
"We are speaking up now to simply support our cousin Ana who had bared what
she had experienced with the Coronas," Flory said. "We affirm her brave move. We
also support our aunt, Sister Flor Maria FMM, who shared what she knew and whom
you had written about. We cannot simply keep silent and leave people wondering
where we stand."
Several members of the Basa-Guidote clan have been respondents in court cases
filed by Cristina. Most of these cases were filed and won when Cristina's
husband was chief presidential legal counsel and, later, associate justice of
the Supreme Court.
In her article, "The litigious Mrs. Corona" in Rappler.com (an online news
service), investigative journalist and author Marites Danguilan-Vitug, who has
dug deep into the workings of the judiciary, wrote that "for over two decades,
(Cristina Corona) has lived the life of a litigant, appearing to be comfortable
in courts, and more importantly, winning almost all of her cases … Cristina has
consolidated her hold over the family corporation after a long battle …." But
this is going ahead of the story.
Flory and her mother, Cecilia, spoke to the Inquirer first about what they
did not know then and knew only now because of the ongoing impeachment trial:
that Cristina, after winning the libel suit she had filed against her uncle,
Jose, had the majority of BGEI shares [91 percent] auctioned and sold to the
sole bidder, her daughter Carla, for a measly P28,000 in 2003.
Higher price
Quipped Cecilia: "Why were we not asked to bid? We could have bought at a
higher price."
Said Mario's widow Cecilia: "We know now what we did not know then." Cecilia,
now pushing 90 but still spritely, recalled what they went through because of
the libel suit that stemmed from a newspaper notice on Cristina that Jose's
lawyer had published.
Jose had filed an estafa case against Cristina for collecting rents from
tenants without authorization. After the estafa case was dismissed, it was
purgatory for several Basas when Cristina filed a libel suit against Jose, his
wife Raymunda, cousin Betsy Basa-Tenchavez, aunts Cecilia Henson-Basa and Sister
Flor Maria, and two employees of Jose.
Arrest warrants
Flory recalled what it was like for her sister Betsy and mother Cecilia.
Cecilia remembered the time the arrest warrants were issued—the start of a
weekend. They all went into hiding as they could not post bail immediately and
were likely to spend nights in jail.
Recalled Cecilia who was already getting on in years at that time: "After
that, we went from one law office to another. No one wanted to take the case
because the complainant was a Corona." It was the law firm, now known as Yorac
Arroyo Chua Caedo and Coronel Law Office, that said yes and boldly defended the
accused.
The accused remembered the feisty Yorac's glare when she said: "What is our
law office for?" But they remained fearful, they could not leave the country,
they had to appear in court during trials, they were always tense whenever they
saw Cristina's husband, pacing about outside the courtroom.
Jose had his own lawyer whom he later replaced for some reason or other. The
court declared him and his wife Raymunda guilty and ordered them to pay Cristina
a total of P400,000 plus P100,000 in lawyer's fees. It also sentenced them to a
maximum of one year, eight months 21 days behind bars.
The court decision became final on Oct. 12, 2002.
Public auction
Cristina's cousin Betsy Basa-Tenchavez, her mother Cecilia, her aunt Sister
Flor Maria and two others were acquitted. Jose left for the United States before
the guilty verdict. He passed away in Nevada on Aug. 29, 2002.
Wrote Vitug: "(T)he court went ahead and had Jose Ma.'s and Raymunda's shares
in BGEI—they owned a majority—garnished through a public auction. The lone
bidder was Carla, Cristina's daughter, who bought these for P28,000. At that
time, Cristina had already sold BGEI's 1,000-square meter property in Manila for
P34.7 million.
"Still on a winning streak, Cristina got more from the libel case years
later. The court, in 2005, levied a 104-square-meter Sampaloc property of the
deceased Jose Ma."
This, despite the fact that Jose passed away in 2002 and as a result his
criminal liability extinguished. Therefore, he could not be made to pay for
damages.
Cecilia recalled that long before the family feud began and after Mario died
in 1983 she was receiving a P2,000 monthly allowance in cash. She was never made
to sign for it. The allowance stopped coming a long time ago and never knew the
reason.
It is worth mentioning that through a private arrangement years ago, Jose
bought the shares of his siblings (except those of Cristina's mother Asuncion's)
so that the property would remain with the family. But a lawyer said that Sister
Flor Maria, who had also sold her shares to her youngest brother, was still
officially a shareholder.
Sister Flor Maria and Sister Concepcion, the eldest, received their shares
from the sale and were free to either donate these to the religious congregation
to which they belonged, the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, or some members of
their family.
Cristina filed 13 cases
Flory and her mother spoke about Cristina's "fondness" for filing cases.
Vitug wrote that since the 1980s, Cristina had filed the following:
"Two cases with the Securities and Exchange Commission which stopped the
majority of the Basas from reorganizing and running the corporation. (These have
been transferred to the courts and are still pending.)
"Three libel cases (two in Quezon City and one in Manila) which have all been
resolved in her favor and which led to the purchase of BGEI's majority shares of
the corporation by her daughter Carla Castillo.
"One or two reconveyance cases (to return land titles), one of which she has
won and one is apparently still pending.
"One case to settle the authenticity of her grandmother's (Rosario) will
which led to her appointment as 'special administrator' of the Basa estate by a
probate court. She is applying to be made "regular administrator" (this is still
pending).
"About five cases of ejectment against tenants of the BGEI building before
the property was bought by the city of Manila in 2001."
Exclaimed Vitug: "That's about 13 cases and you can imagine the time, energy
and expenses involved in all these. Appearing as witness in court is not a usual
activity and it's not something many take a liking to. And, as we know, our
judicial system moves painfully slow and cases take several years to resolve."
Sister Concepcion was overheard to have remarked that Cristina should not
keep doing what she had been doing to her next of kin because she would be
calling God's punitive justice upon herself. But "the litigious Mrs. Corona"
paid no heed.
Last will
As to the last will and testament of Rosario Guidote-Basa, mother of the five
Basa siblings, grandmother of 26 grandchildren (Cristina, Flory and Ana, among
them), questions persist. It puzzles those in the know as to how the last will
and testament led to Cristina's appointment as "special administrator."
Nowhere in the original document (in Spanish and executed in May 1972) does
it say so. Stated clearly are the shares of each named heir and who gets what,
the two Franciscan nuns included.
Toward the end of the last will and testament, Rosario wrote: "I beg all my
children to respect faithfully all my given disposition above as signed, to try
to live in complete peace among themselves and to avoid troublesome lawsuits in
memory of this mother who loves them all equally." Signed: Rosario Guidote vda.
de Basa
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
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