Corona's ITR can 'connect dots' to unexplained wealth, says Palace official  

The income tax return (ITR) of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona can connect the dots’ between his financial capacity and the properties he acquired in his 20 years with government, a Malacañang official said Monday.   But it remains unclear if President Benigno Aquino III has authorized the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to release Corona’s ITR to the Senate as an impeachment court, said presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda. Section 71 of the National Internal Revenue Code requires presidential authority in public disclosure of income tax returns.   “Let’s wait for tomorrow’s hearing if it has been approved. We have not spoken to the President on that matter yet,” he said at a press briefing in Malacañang.   “The ITR of Mr. Corona should be presented. Ano ba ang nilalaman ng kanyang ITR? We are connecting the dots po dito. ‘Yan po ang lohika po ng kaso — that’s the logic of the prosecution: to connect the dots and to see if these are wealth that are ill-gotten… If he cannot explain it then that is considered unexplained wealth,” he added.                                          The impeachment court subpoenaed BIR chief Kim Henares and asked her to bring Corona's ITR from 1992 to 2010.    “We know for a fact that Chief Justice Corona has been working in government for 20 years and, therefore, his only source of income should be his salary as a government official,” Lacierda noted.   “And so, we need the ITRs… If the President should allow the release of the ITRs, we need the ITRs to connect the dots,” he added.    With Corona having a limited source of income as a government official, Lacierda believed that there is unexplained wealth somewhere behind Corona. “How was he able to acquire so much property in a span of so many years?”   With Corona’s Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) given by Supreme Court Clerk of Court Enriqueta Esguerra-Vidal, and the land titles from the Registry of Deed, the impeachment court has uncovered that Corona supposedly owns more than five properties, according to the Palace official and the amount in the SALN was a lot lower than the actual acquisition price.   “For instance, in the Bellagio… the Taguig property, it stated six million; whereas, in truth and in fact, the deed of absolute sale in the Bellagio sale was around 14.5-million,” Lacierda said.   Lacierda claimed the beleaguered chief justice’s properties should be explained and revealed in the impeachment trial. “So we are merely… The prosecution is merely connecting the dots,” he said. — VS, GMA News