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Day 10: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate
Call to order
- The trial resumed at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
- House prosecutor Rep. Reynaldo Umali conducted the direct examination of Director Benito Cataran of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) Company Registration & Regulatory Department, who testified on the P11-million loan that Chief Justice Renato Corona got in 2003 from his wife’s corporation; it was declared as his liability in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) from 2004 to 2009.
- Cataran produced the articles of incorporation of Basa Guidote Enterprises, Inc. (BGEI), which was registered with the SEC in May 30, 1961. He said neither Corona nor his wife Cristina Roco-Corona were listed as shareholders in the company, whose incorporators and officers had the surnames Basa or Roco.
- Director Cataran added that the SEC revoked BGEI’s articles of incorporation and considered the company dissolved in 2003 – the year Corona got a loan from BGEI – after it failed to file general information sheets (GIS) from 1991 to 1997, and financial statements from 2000 to 2003 as required under the Corporation Code.
- However, presiding officer and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the dissolution of a corporation is not its end because it still has to undergo liquidation. He explained that the SEC can only suspend a non-compliant corporation’s license, but the corporation can only be dissolved by its own stockholders or by the government through a case filed against entities that usurp authority. He directed Cataran to submit a legal memorandum showing the authority of the SEC to dissolve non-compliant corporations.
- Umali said the prosecution panel was out to prove that Corona could not have borrowed from BSEI “because the corporation’s franchise has already been dissolved or revoked [and] the only action that can be taken by [BGEI] is to liquidate, wind up and distribute the shares.” He added the prosecution wants to prove that the P11-million loan obtained by Corona is “fictitious.”
- Senator-judge Francis Pangilinan noted that the prosecution was trying to prove a questionable or "unexplained inclusion" which goes to the truthfulness of Corona’s SALN.
- Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano said the SEC’s statement that BGEI is no longer operational is irrelevant because a corporation under process of dissolution can still lend money. Senator-judge Edgardo Angara agreed and said Cataran’s testimony was “much ado about nothing.” Senator-judge Pia Cayetano described it as a “futile exercise.”
- Senator-judge Lito Lapid noted that Corona’s 2010 SALN disclosed an P11-million “cash advance” and asked how this was different from a loan. In reply, Umali admitted that the prosecution was wondering how a corporation that’s no longer in operation could give a cash advance to a non-stockholder like Corona.
- Senator-judge Francis Escudero explained that when a corporation is dissolved, the incorporators simply become co-owners in an association which can still do business, and the co-owners answer any claims if it gets sued in court.
- During cross-examination, lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas got the witness to admit that he had no firsthand knowledge about BGEI, its transactions, and the P11-million loan.
- Cuevas showed Cataran a check amounting to P34,703,800 that was supposedly paid to Cristina on behalf of BGEI after the firm’s properties were expropriated, but the SEC director said he was not aware of this transaction.
- Ayala Land assistant vice president Nerissa Josef testified that the Corona family made three installments within one year for the full payment of Unit 31-B of The Columns, a 48-square meter condominium unit in Makati City. She said a deed of absolute sale dated October 1, 2004 was issued to the Corona family.
- Private prosecutor Winston Ginez, who conducted the direct examination, said Corona should have declared the property in his SALNs for the years 2004 to 2009 but the chief justice only declared the condominium unit in his 2010 SALN. Responding to a question from Senator-judge Escudero, Ginez said the prosecution’s position is that when the absolute deed of sale was executed, then the property should have been included in the SALN.
- However, defense counsel Cuevas said there was “a refusal on the part of the buyer for the delivery.” Before conducting his cross-examination, defense counsel Ramon Esguerra also had a handwritten note signed by Corona’s wife marked as evidence.
- Asked by Esguerra whether she was aware of the Coronas' complaints that the unit had undersized wires and damaged windows, Josef replied in the negative.
- Upon Escudero’s motion, the presiding officer directed both the prosecution and defense to submit by Monday their respective legal memorandums on that point of law: when must a property be declared in the SALN – when there is already a deed of absolute sale or when the property is actually turned over to the owner?
- Responding to a question from Senator-judge Drilon, Josef said the Coronas took possession of the unit sometime in 2008.
- Senator-judge Sergio Osmeña III asked that the impeachment court also subpoena any document containing the date of acceptance and titling, plus the floor plans, of the Bellagio penthouse units in Taguig.
- The presiding officer ordered the issuance of the subpoena.
- At 6:15 p.m., the trial was adjourned.
- The trial will resume at 2 p.m. Thursday.
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