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Day 11: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate
Call to Order
- At 2:04 p.m. Thursday, the trial resumed.
- Senators Miram Defensor-Santiago and Sergio Osmeña were absent.
- During cross-examination by defense counsel Ramon Esguerra, Quezon City Register of Deeds Carlo Alcantara produced the transfer certificate of title (TCT) for a P15-million lot under the names of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona's daughter, Ma. Carla C. Castillo, and her husband.
- Alcantara also produced registration certificates for the following properties of the Corona family:
- A unit at the Burgundy condominium with a market zonal value of P1.5 million and a selling price of P2.5 million
- A lot at the Ayala Heights with a market zonal value P13.8 million and a selling price of P8 million
- A lot at La Vista with a market zonal value of P21.6 million and a selling price of P18 million
- Two properties at Xavierville Subdivision
- Esguerra also cross-examined Marikina Register of Deeds Sedfrey Garcia. He said seven Marikina lots under the names of Corona and his wife have already been sold, thus these were not included in Corona's SALNs.
- Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano noted the confusion regarding property valuation. He said the fair market value is usually the price agreed upon by the buyer and seller, but in deeds of sale, either zonal value or municipal/city assessors' value is used.
- Cayetano posed the question, which specific amount should Corona have put in his statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN) as the property’s acquisition cost – the zonal value, the fair market value (FMV), or the assessed value? He requested the House prosecutors and Corona defense counsels to prepare legal memoranda on the matter, considering that Article II charges Corona with non-disclosure of assets in his SALN.
- Presiding officer and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the assessed value is used in computing real estate taxes, while the market zonal value and the FMV are used for computing final capital gains tax.
- Senator-judge Ralph Recto asked the Corona defense team about their position on the Quezon City properties, which had been sold in 1990. Lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas replied that those properties have a new owner, the daughter of Corona who was of legal age by then.
- Citing Rule 7 on public disclosure in the Rules of the Civil Service Commission, Cuevas said the acquisition cost, fair market value, and assessed value all have to be stated in the SALNs. However, if there are errors, civil servants are allowed to make corrections after filing and no criminal penalties are imposed if the inaccuracies are not intentional.
- House prosecutor Rep. Elidio Barzaga Jr. argued that Corona failed to state in his SALNs from 2002 to 2010 all the values of his properties because the column on acquisition costs were left blank. He cited a Supreme Court ruling that false entries in a SALN filed under oath amounts to perjury.
- Enrile asked whether the House prosecution panel was introducing evidence on Article II on culpable violation of the Constitution and/or violation of the public trust. Barzaga replied “both” and added that not stating entries in the SALN correctly constitutes the “highest betrayal of public trust.”
- The presiding officer asked Barzaga if perjury is a high crime, to which the House prosecutor replied in the negative.
- Senator-judge Joker Arroyo said evidence submitted to the Senate “must be of a higher bar” that will prove and reach the level of an impeachable offense.
- House lead prosecutor Niel Tupas Jr. explained that Article II on untruthful disclosure in Corona’s SALN did not pertain to “other high crimes” but rather “betrayal of public trust.” He cited the opinion of constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas that betrayal of public trust was a “catch-all phrase” covering offenses that may not even amount to crimes.
- Senator-judge Aquilino Pimentel III asked why the title to the Marikina properties remained under Corona’s name when these were already sold to Demetrio 22 years ago. Cuevas replied that Corona should not be faulted for the failure of the buyer to transfer the TCTs to buyer’s name.
- Senator-judge Francis Escudero noted that the deed of absolute sale of the Marikina properties named new owners, but the TCTs remained under the name of the chief justice. He recalled that the previous day, the defense team argued that the Taguig properties need only be included in Corona’s SALN at the time of their physical transfer. He stressed that there cannot be a double standard where one argument is used when favorable but dispensed with when not favorable, saying there has to be consistency.
- Escudero said the prosecution enumerated 24 Corona properties so far, but he recalled that the prosecution said it would present evidence on 45 properties.
- Tupas said it was the Land Registration Authority (LRA) that listed the 45 properties, and the prosecution panel was “not bound by the LRA’s enumeration.”
- Senator-judge Jinggoy Estrada asked him who announced to the media that Corona had 45 properties using the LRA letter, saying he saw Tupas on television together with the House prosecution panel spokesmen presenting the LRA document on 45 alleged Corona properties.
- Tupas said the prosecutors did not release the list of 45 properties to the media. He said a few days before the trial started, the prosecutors filed their request for the issuance of subpoenas, to which the LRA letter was attached.
- Cuevas said the defense team found “revolting” the practice of showing to the media and the general public the documents that have been marked but not yet formally offered as evidence.
- Prosecution lawyer Clarence Jandoc conducted the direct examination of Burgundy Realty Corporation Vice President Gregg Gregonia, who confirmed the sale of a P3.4-million condominium unit at the 21st floor of One Burgundy Plaza along Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City to Corona in October 2000 through documents.
- Gregonia also confirmed that Corona bought a parking lot in the same building for P450,000.
- During the cross-examination by Cuevas, Gregonia admitted that he had no personal knowledge on the transactions regarding the Burgundy unit.
- Senator-judge Estrada asked the prosecution what they were trying to prove regarding the Burgundy unit. Jandoc said Corona did not disclose the Burgundy parking slots in his SALNs and failed to make a timely disclosure of the condo unit itself.
- In response to a request from Rep. Tupas, the presiding officer reminded the prosecution team to justify requests to summon documents and individuals, stressing that they must indicate the "relevancy" of those documents or testimony to the impeachment trial. Enrile said the court cannot hastily decide on issuing summons because the prosecution “needs to lay the basis for the subpoena first.”
- The presiding officer cited the prosecution’s request to subpoena some documents from the Supreme Court, explaining that the Senate has to “observe the separateness and co-equalness of the three branches of government.”
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