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Day 7: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate


Call to order  
  • The trial resumed at 2:03 p.m. Thursday. 
  Presumption of ‘unexplained wealth’ more relevant to trial  
  • Senator-judge Miriam Defensor-Santiago asked the House prosecution panel whether Chief Justice Renato Corona was being charged under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
  • Private prosecutor Arthur Lim answered in the affirmative, saying the prosecution was accusing Corona of violating paragraphs (c), (e), and (f) of Section 3 of the law.
  • However, Santiago said these provisions were irrelevant to Article II, which accuses Corona of not disclosing his Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net worth (SALNs).
  • She said the more pertinent section of the law would be the presumption of unexplained wealth when a government official’s assets do not tally with his income. She said this provision had more to do with the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (Republic Act 6713), which requires the faithful submission of SALNs.
    Release of trial documents to the media  
  • Senator-judge Joker Arroyo expressed alarm that documents marked the previous days that have not yet been admitted as evidence in the case, such as the income tax returns (ITRs) of Corona, have already been released to media. He said ITRs are not public documents and should be held “sacrosanct” and “very, very confidential.”
  • Henares said the ITRs were released only to the Senate pursuant to the subpoena issued to her.
  • Senator-judge Pia Cayetano asked the prosecution panel or defense team if they had released the documents to the public, noting that Corona’s ITRs have been repeatedly shown on television and the Internet.
  • Cayetano said the public had to distinguish between the marking, the presentation, and the offer of evidence before releasing documents to the public or the media. She said documents merely marked as evidence should not be paraded around in media to mislead the public into thinking the documents have already been offered as evidence.
  • Arroyo stressed that the impeachment court has to admit the marked documents as evidence before these would become public documents.
  • House lead prosecutor Niel Tupas Jr. denied having released Corona’s ITRs to the media. He said the only documents released by the prosecution panel to media were the ones about the Corona properties in The Bellagio in Taguig City.
  • Lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas said the defense team has never discussed the contents of the marked documents with the media. He said the prosecution panel’s spokesmen must avoid talking about the merits of the case.
  • The presiding officer cautioned the prosecution panel and the defense team about discussing the contents of documents, especially the confidential ones, which have been submitted to the impeachment court.
Time frame of charges against Corona  
  • Senator-judge Francis Escudero asked if the impeachment court would consider only Corona’s acts as chief justice, as he noted that some documents marked as evidence bore dates before the magistrate occupied his current position.
  • Presiding officer Enrile said the senator-judges should discuss in caucus whether or not to consider Corona’s acts prior to his appointment as chief justice.
   Properties of Corona’s daughters  
  • During direct examination, Henares said the BIR was “surprised” to find out that Corona’s daughter, Ma. Carla Corona-Castillo, only had a taxable income of P8,476 monthly in 2009; yet, she was able to buy a year later from her mother, Cristina, an P18-million property in La Vista, Quezon City. Henares said Carla only filed ITRs for the years 2008 and 2009.
  • Enrile asked Henares if the BIR has filed a tax evasion case against Carla, and Henares said the BIR was still investigating whether the property was donated to Carla by her parents or if it was illegally acquired.
  • Prosecutor Lim asked Henares about the BIR certificate for the sale of a lot in McKinley Hill, Taguig City, which was bought by another daughter of the chief justice, Maria Charina Corona, from Megaworld Corporation.
  • Henares said Charina has never filed an ITR, but was a one-time taxpayer in the McKinley Hills transaction
  • Henares said it is possible that Corona’s daughter, Charina, would be able to explain how she was able to purchase multi-million-peso properties despite the lack of ITRs.
  • Senator-judge Ralph Recto noted that the capability of Ma. Carla Corona-Castillo, to buy the La Vista property was being questioned because she did not file an ITR and, hence, had no regular source of income. Recto was about to ask Henares if the BIR has reviewed the ITRs of Carla’s husband, but he withdrew the question because the BIR chief’s testimony still did not cover this matter.
  Authorization from President Aquino  
  • During cross-examination by defense counsel Serafin Cuevas, Henares said she was authorized by President Benigno Aquino III to divulge information regarding the ITRs of the chief justice, his wife, and their children and their children’s spouses.
  • Henares said the chief justice was her colleague at the SGV auditing firm and that her husband was Corona’s favorite student at the Ateneo Law School. She added that she was also acquainted with Corona’s wife.
  • Asked by Cuevas if the Secretary of Finance told her “durugin mo na si Corona, kung maaari,” Henares replied, “No.”
  • Senator-Judge Arroyo expressed his concern over the speed of the issuance of the presidential authorization to release the ITRs of Corona and his relatives. He warned that a parallel BIR investigation along with the impeachment trial were “twin moves” against one person that represented a “very potent” combination. Henares said that this was the first time that the President had issued such authority.
  Corona’s SALNs and ITRS  
  • Senator-judge Pangilinan asked whether or not the BIR may have overlooked the ITRs of the Corona spouses that recorded other income which could justify their assets. Henares replied that her agency conducted a diligent search and even checked the alpha lists. 
  • Senator-judge Cayetano asked Henares if she saw any discrepancies in Corona’s SALNs in relation to his ITRs. Henares said Corona did not fill up the acquisition cost column and that some properties were registered the year after acquisition.
  • Upon Senator-judge Drilon’s inquiry, Henares explained that the regional district officer was made to produce the alpha lists from the Supreme Court. She said BIR records show that Corona only had one source of income.
  • Henares said Corona’s wife also did not file ITRs, but she was included in the alpha list of the John Hay Management Corporation and “has a little problem, with regard to directors’ fees.”
   Fishing for evidence through subpoenas   
  • The presiding officer requested both camps to make a request for subpoenas with “specificity” as regards what documents they wanted to be brought before the impeachment court.
  • He said the buckshot approach in requesting for the issuance of subpoenas to produce “all pertinent records” was fishing for evidence and was not proper.
  Spokespersons asked to “moderate statements”  
  • Senator-judge Gringo Honasan asked that all the spokespersons of the prosecution panel and the defense team be advised “to moderate their statements.”
  • Honasan lamented that the “trial outside the courtroom” was proceeding faster than the trial inside the Senate session hall, and was “destroying the honor of a good family name.”
  • The presiding officer requested the spokespersons of both camps not to discuss the evidence and merits of the case outside the impeachment court. Enrile said “they may discuss the procedure but not the content.”
  • Senator-judges Panfilo Lacson, Teofisto Guingona, and Alan Peter Cayetano agreed that because the impeachment proceedings are considered a public trial, if the evidence is not made available to the public then its purpose would be defeated.
  • Cayetano added that the sub judice rule – which under the Senate Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials prohibits senator-judges, the prosecution, and the defense panel from discussing the merits of the case – must be differentiated from a “gag order” as often reported in the media.
Adjournment  
  • Thursday’s session was adjourned at 6 p.m.
  • The trial will resume at 2 p.m. Monday, January 30.
— Marlon Anthony R. Tonson/YA/KG, GMA News
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