Corona daughters lacked income to buy multimillion-peso properties – BIR

The incomes of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s daughters were not enough for them to have bought multimillion pesos worth of properties in the past four years, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) chief said Thursday.   During the continuation of the impeachment trial, BIR chief Kim Jacinto-Henares said that her agency was “surprised” to find out that Ma. Carla Corona Castillo only had a taxable income of P8,476 in 2009, but was able to buy a lot in La Vista from her mother, Cristina, for P18 million in 2010.   “The daughter has very minimal income and is therefore not capable of buying properties,” she said before the Senate impeachment court.   The BIR is still investigating whether the property was given as a donation or if it was indeed bought, the commissioner added.   The chief justice declared in his 2010 statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) that he and his wife “sold two parcels of land in Quezon City to purchase or pay the loans for condominium units in Taguig.”   One of these lots was the La Vista real estate in Quezon City, which Corona acquired in 2003 for P3 million.   The prosecution panel earlier this month identified the condominium units as those located at McKinley Hill and Bellagio I Tower, which Corona priced at a combined P9.1 million. Public prosecutors, however, said that these properties are actually worth P20 million.   The Senate summoned Henares to appear before the impeachment court and submit original and certified true copies of Corona’s income tax returns (ITR) for the years 1992 to 2010.   Also subpoenaed were the ITRs of his wife Cristina for those same years, his daughter Carla’s from 2000 to 2010, his son-in-law Constantino Castillo’s from 2000 to 2010, his son Francis’ from 2005 to 2010, and his other daughter Charina’s from 2005 to 2010.   Henares’ testimony, which started Wednesday, was limited to shedding light on Article II of the Articles of Impeachment, which alleged that Corona failed to disclose his SALN.   Also Charina   Henares noted that Charina also managed to buy a McKinley Hill condominium unit from Megaworld Corp. in 2008 even without proof of income. Charina was a "one-time taxpayer" and has not filed any income tax return, she said.   The BIR chief likewise said Charina was not included in any alpha list, which specifies employees of a certain company and their corresponding withholding taxes.   Henares, however, told the impeachment court that the BIR has not asked Charina for her side on the matter since the bureau only found out about it in connection with the impeachment proceedings.   Lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas said that Charina was in the United States for at least 10 years, which can likely be the reason why the BIR has no records of her income statement.   Last week, Taguig-Pateros Register of Deeds Randy Rutaquio told the impeachment court that the chief justice was the attorney-in-fact of Charina when his Taguig property was transferred to her. — VS/KBK/KG, GMA News