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The first month of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona at the Senate from Jan. 16 to Feb. 16 unearthed a wealth of information on the Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALNs), bank accounts, and real estate properties of the country’s top magistrate. In the order of trial, the prosecution gets to present its evidence before the defense. The marking of documents and the testimonies of witnesses are a preliminary step to the offer of evidence, which comes after both sides have finished arguing their case before the court.
 
By the end of the first month of the trial, the prosecution has not moved beyond Article II and a little of Article III. This summary presents the highlights of the trial so far, including entries from a recap of the first seven days.
 
1. SALNs AND ITRs
 

• Voting in public for the first time, the impeachment court voted 14-6 to deny the prosecution’s request to subpoena Corona’s wife, daughters, and son-in-law for questioning about his properties because they cannot be compelled to testify against him under the Rules of Court on spousal, parental and filial privileges.
• The Senate subpoenaed Clerk of Court Enriquetta Vidal of the Supreme Court (SC) to produce Corona’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALNs), and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares to submit his Income Tax Returns (ITRs). Later, Henares said the BIR began investigating Corona after several discrepancies were found between his SALNs and his ITRs.
• The Senate disallowed the introduction of testimony or documents under Paragraph 2.4 because charges of “ill-gotten wealth” have nothing to do with Article II’s allegations of failure to publicly disclose assets and liabilities in Corona’s SALNs.

 
2. BANK DEPOSITS AND A COMPANY LOAN
 

• After voting down Senator-judge Miriam Defensor Santiago’s written appeal, the Senate subpoenaed bank officials and documents of Corona’s accounts in Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) and the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) for comparison with his SALNs.
• Lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas asked the Senate to subpoena the monthly statements of Corona’s BPI accounts in order to prove that the fluctuation of ending balances from 2005 to 2010 had resulted from different transactions.
• Senator-judges Sergio Osmeña III and Franklin Drilon had this subpoena amended to include all other BPI accounts under Corona’s name, as well as copies of the accounts’ opening balances up until 2010.

 
Time deposit accounts

• PSBank Katipunan branch manager Annabelle Tiongson revealed that two of Corona's five time deposit accounts were closed on Dec. 12, 2011, the day Corona was impeached by the House of Representatives. One of the accounts was opened on Dec. 2009 with a balance of P8.5 million, while the other was opened on Sept. 2010 with a balance of P7 million. These bank accounts were not included in Corona’s SALNs for 2009 and 2010.
• PSBank president Pascual Garcia III said Corona had a third account that was also closed on Dec. 12, 2011 – a P17-million peso time deposit account opened in June 2011 – but this was not covered by the subpoena. Article II only covers Corona’s SALNs up to 2010.

 
Peso bank accounts

• After the Senate junked the defense team’s motion to quash the subpoena, it was learned during the trial that Corona has an active checking account at the BPI Ayala Avenue branch. It was opened in 1989 and had an ending balance of P12 million as of Dec. 31, 2010.
• Corona also has five peso accounts at PSBank Katipunan branch, three of which have been closed. One account had P5 million at the end of 2007 and was closed in 2008. Another had a balance of P7.1 million while a third account had a balance of P12.5 million at the end of 2010.

 
‘Fake’ bank document from ‘small lady’

• The Senate subpoenaed PSBank records of Corona’s alleged dollar accounts upon the request of the prosecution, which had attached a photocopied bank document (“Annex A”). But PSBank Katipunan branch manager Tiongson declared “Annex A” as “fake” and said it did not come from her branch.
• When ordered to explain the provenance of the document, House prosecutor Rep. Reynaldo Umali narrated how an anonymous “small lady” gave him the photocopy. But the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms reported that footage from the Senate Security’s closed circuit television camera did not show any “small lady” handing over a document to Umali.
• Tiongson testified that Rep. Jorge Banal, a member of the House impeachment secretariat, had shown her a photocopy of “Annex A” on Jan. 31 and asked for her help in verifying its authenticity, but she politely refused. Banal told the impeachment court that a copy of “Annex A” was left by an anonymous source at the gate of his house.
• PSBank president Garcia denied his bank had leaked “Annex A” to the prosecution.  After pointing out certain differences between “Annex A” and the bank’s copy – such as highlighted text and some signatures – he was ordered to bring the original documents of Corona’s dollar accounts.

SC stops Senate probe on dollar accounts

• PSBank president Garcia steadfastly refused to reveal anything about Corona’s alleged five dollar-denominated accounts, other than to confirm that the account numbers mentioned in the trial were existing accounts in PSBank.
• The SC granted Garcia’s petition for a temporary restraining order (TRO) on divulging details about dollar accounts and invoked the Foreign Currency Deposit Act, which requires the written permission of a depositor before any account can be examined for whatever purpose.
• By a vote of 13-10, the Senate decided to abide by the high court’s TRO. However, presiding officer and Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile said the Senate would still “vigorously defend” before the SC the impeachment court’s issuance of the subpoenas for the dollar deposit accounts.

 
Loan from Mrs. Corona’s company

• The House prosecution panel sought to prove that Corona’s liability in his SALNs from 2004 to 2009 – an P11-million loan he got from his wife’s company, Basa Guidote Enterprises, Inc. (BGEI – was “fictitious” because BGEI’s franchise was revoked in 2003, the year Corona supposedly got the loan.
• Director Benito Cataran of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Company Registration & Regulatory Department testified that BGEI was considered dissolved in 2003, and that Corona and his wife were not listed as shareholders in the company.

3. CONDOMINIUMS & OTHER REAL ESTATE
 
The senator-judges questioned the House prosecution panel for presenting witnesses and documents on only 24 properties allegedly owned by Corona, and not 45 properties as the team had announced in a press conference before the start of the trial.
 
Corona gets 40% discount from Megaworld

• Megaworld Corp. finance director Giovanni Ng produced documents on The Bellagio condominium penthouse bought by Corona and his wife for the reduced price of P14.5 million because the unit needed repairs.
• Ng also produced the deed of absolute sale of a McKinley Hill property bought by Corona’s daughter Charina, who lives abroad and was represented in the transaction by her father. Megaworld gave Charina a P2.3-million discount and her parents paid the P6.2-million price for the property.
• Noli Hernandez, Megaworld’s senior vice president for marketing, testified that the Coronas got a steep price reduction in buying the Bellagio unit. From the original price of P24 million, the price was reduced due to “water damage” following a typhoon and further slashed by P3 million as standard 15-20 percent discount for payments “almost in cash” in less than a year. An additional P1 million discount was also given to Corona.
• The Bellagio penthouse was not reflected in Corona’s 2009 SALN, despite the deed of absolute sale executed that year. The property was reflected in Corona’s 2010 SALN, but the value of the penthouse was written down as only P6.8 million.
• Hernandez said Corona voted against Megaworld Corp. in at least two SC cases even though his family had purchased properties from Megaworld twice.

 
Taguig, Makati, and QC condo units

• In October 2005, the Corona couple fully paid P9.1-million in cash for a condominium unit in Bonifacio Ridge, Taguig City. But in his 2010 SALN, Corona declared that he had purchased in 2004 a Taguig condominium unit worth only P2.3 million.
• The prosecution said Corona should have declared a P3-million Makati condominium unit in The Columns, Makati City in his SALNs for 2004 to 2009, and not just in his 2010 SALN. But the defense argued that the Coronas only accepted delivery of this unit in 2010 after some damaged fixtures were finally fixed.
• The prosecution also accused Corona of failing to make a “timely disclosure” in his SALNs of a P3.4-million condominium unit at One Burgundy Plaza in Quezon City bought in October 2000, plus a parking lot in the same building for P450,000.

 
Marikina and La Vista lots, country club shares

• The Marikina City register of deeds testified that seven lots under the names of Corona and his wife have been sold. Defense counsel Cuevas said these properties were not included in Corona’s SALNs, and that his client should not be faulted if the buyers failed to transfer the properties under their names.
• The Quezon City register of deeds produced documents on alleged Corona properties: an P18-million lot in La Vista and a separate P15-million lot, both under the names of Corona’s daughter and her husband; two lots at Xavierville Subdivision; and an P8-million lot in Ayala Heights.
• The prosecution tried to show that the La Vista property actually belongs to Corona because his daughter and her husband have no financial capacity to buy the P18-million lot. But Enrile prevented the prosecution from revealing the ITRs of Corona’s daughter and her husband during the trial.
• The prosecution presented a deed of sale showing Corona and his wife had bought shares at the exclusive The Palms Country Club, which were not declared in his SALN.

 
4. SC ‘FLIP-FLOP’ ON FASAP-PAL RULING
 

• Out of respect for the “confidentiality of court sessions” and to avoid “transgressing the basic principle of separation of powers,” the Senate denied the prosecution’s request to subpoena four SC justices to testify on Article III. But Enrile said that if SC justices want to come to the Senate to voluntarily testify, “then that is their prerogative.”
• Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP) president Roberto Anduiza testified that Corona allegedly intervened in a 13-year-old labor case that the group had already “won three times” at the SC. Anduiza said the SC under Corona had “acted” on four letters sent by Estelito Mendoza – the lawyer of the losing party, Philippine Airlines (PAL) – resulting in the SC recalling its “final” decision without giving FASAP an opportunity to be heard.
• Defense counsel Cuevas told Anduiza that the SC resolution recalling the “final entry of judgment” was merely an administrative matter and it did not revoke the SC’s original decision in the labor case, which means that “the multi-million peso award to FASAP members” still stands.

 
- YA, GMA News