Day 29 Corona trial highlights: P5 million in non-taxable allowances

Published March 14, 2012 7:31pm

Defense asks prosecution for missing evidence

At the start of Wednesday's trial, the defense team of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona said a piece of documentary evidence – the handwritten letter of Mrs. Cristina Corona acknowledging receipt of several land titles – went missing after it was borrowed by the prosecution Tuesday.
Lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas told the impeachment court that the last time the defense team saw the letter was before private prosecutor Jose Justiniano borrowed it. But when he asked Justiniano about the document after the proceedings, he said the prosecutor could not give a satisfactory answer.
Justiniano said he recalls borrowing “a bunch of documents” from the defense team but could not remember if Mrs. Corona’s letter was among them.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, presiding officer of the impeachment court, ordered Justiniano to look for the letter and return it to the defense team.

No need to liquidate allowances of SC Justices

Continuing her earlier testimony, Supreme Court chief disbursing officer Araceli Bayuga said the magistrates are not required to liquidate their allowances, which are all given in cash. She said the only thing the SC Justices need to do is submit a certification, which is included in the payroll.
Bayuga said the only taxable items are the salary, longevity pay, and yearend bonus in excess of P30,000 of each Justice. All the allowances are not taxed, she said.

Relevance of SC officer's testimony questioned

Senator-judge Antonio Trillanes IV questioned the relevance of Bayuga’s testimony, saying the defense panel seems to be “reviving” Article 2.4 of the impeachment complaint on Corona’s alleged ill-gotten wealth, which the Senate had struck down.
Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano expressed the same view, saying Bayuga’s testimony did not seem to be related to allegations on supposed inaccuracies in Corona’s statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).
Cuevas reasoned out that Bayuga’s testimony is just “preliminary” and the defense team would be presenting other witnesses on the SALN issue.

Corona got P5 million in allowances from electoral tribunals

The defense team presented two witnesses who testified that Corona received about P5 million in non-taxable allowances while serving as a member of electoral tribunals that handled poll protests against members of the Philippine Congress.
Girlie Salarda, secretary of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET), told the impeachment court that Corona received about P2.5 million in allowances and other benefits as a member of HRET from 2008 to 2009. Corona received an additional P855,784.93 when he became HRET chair from Nov. 6, 2009 to Feb. 27, 2010, according to Salarda.
Meanwhile, Corona received almost P1.7 million in allowances during his 14-month tenure as member of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) from 2008 to 2009, according to SET secretary Irene Guevarra.

– Reported by Kimberly Jan Tan, Andreo Calonzo, and Mark Merueñas/YA, GMA News