By Delon Porcalla
MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang dared yesterday Chief Justice Renato Corona to address questions over undeclared assets and cash in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), even as he engages in a media blitz to defend himself.
In his latest accusation, Corona claimed a senator sent an emissary to encourage him to step down shortly before the start of his impeachment trial.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said she was not aware of this and said Corona could identify the senator and supposed emissary.
Speculation on the identity of the senator focused on two of President Aquino’s allies, Franklin Drilon and Ralph Recto. Both denied sending any emissary.
“It seems that he’s been giving details of certain alleged events. Then it is up to him if he wants to divulge,” Valte said.
She stressed that this does not mean the story is not true.
“I can only answer again for this particular issue from what I know,” she said.
Valte also said they would prefer that Corona, whose turn to present evidence in the impeachment trial starts on Monday, could make these allegations when he himself takes the witness stand, and disclose these under oath.
“Whether his (Corona’s) allegations will stand in court, or whether he will put himself on the stand, is something that remains to be seen. And we would like to see him make these allegations under oath,” Valte said.
The problem with Corona is that he is now engaging in a media blitz and has been making accusations left and right, Valte said.
But the lingering questions remain about Corona’s concealed assets and monies, including dollar-denominated ones, in banks.
“What is happening is that the Chief Justice is obviously trying to explain to the public what his side of the issue is, except on the matter of the discrepancies in his SALN and the unreported assets that were brought up,” Valte said.
Not me
In his radio interviews over the past days, Corona claimed meeting with Sen. Teofisto Guingona III last year when a proposal was made for him to retire early to allow Senior Associate justice Antonio Carpio to assume as chief justice.
Guingona, a member of the ruling Liberal Party, denied the claim of Corona.
Guingona though admitted they had lunch at the home of his father former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. last year but said this was only a social lunch.
In an interview over radio dzRH yesterday, Corona said another senator sent an emissary to his office at the Supreme Court asking him to resign.
Corona said the visit came before the start of the impeachment trial in January.
“There is another senator-judge who sent an emissary and his message was not about term-sharing but about my resignation,” he said in Filipino.
Corona said the emissary did not give a reason for why the senator wanted him to resign.
“I did not say anything (to the emissary) because I didn’t want to dignify. I know that at that time, tension was already escalating. I didn’t want to aggravate the situation,” he said.
Corona, however, did not give a name and only said the senator is a known ally of President Aquino.
“Let’s not mention the name, it might aggravate (senator’s) anger,” he requested.
But an insider in the judiciary told The STAR that the senator Corona was referring to could be Sen. Franklin Drilon.
The source also revealed the emissary’s offer was for Corona to resign so he would no longer be prosecuted.
Drilon, on the other hand, denied meeting with Corona or sending any emissary to call for his resignation.
Drilon challenged Corona to name the emissary and the senator who supposedly was behind the effort to convince him to resign.
“If that is what the Chief Justice said then it would be best for him to name the emissary and the senator,” Drilon said in Filipino.
Drilon said this was nothing more than an effort by Corona to distract the public from the main issues that have been raised against him.
He said the more important issue that has yet to be answered by Corona is the issue of his SALN and if he made a truthful declaration as required by law.
“It’s said that there are these distractions. The issue now is if his SALN was accurate. Did he accurately report his assets in his SALN, that is the issue,” Drilon said.
“These meetings that he has been talking about, these are all distractions,” he added.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan, another member of the Liberal Party, did not want to respond to the latest allegation of Corona and just advised the chief magistrate to “focus on preparing his defense.”
Sen. Ralph Recto, also a Liberal Party member, also denied being the person referred to by Corona.
Recto said he has no reason to meet with Corona and even if he were asked to do so by the President, he would not be in a position to ask for his resignation.
Recto said he could only recall having met Corona once before.
“I had nothing to do with it that’s for sure,” he said.
If, however, Corona’s claims were true, and if the President tried to reach out to the Chief Justice to bring a resolution to their differences, Recto said he sees nothing wrong in sending an emissary.
“What is clear, assuming it were true, that is political diplomacy. I don’t see anything wrong for the President to offer that,” Recto said.
He said the President has openly stated that he has lost trust in Corona and if the Chief Justice said that he rejected the alleged offers to him, then this should be respected.
Recto said he understood what Corona has been doing with his daily media interviews because he wants to defend himself before the public.
‘More questions than answers’
House prosecutors, on the other hand, claimed Corona has “raised more questions than answers” in his media blitz this week.
Prosecution spokesman Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo pointed out Corona’s claim that he emptied his three time deposit accounts with Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank)-Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City branch of close to P37 million on Dec. 12, 2010 because he had lost trust in the bank does not hold water.
Dec. 12 was the day the House of Representatives overwhelmingly impeached the Chief Justice.
“His (Corona’s) explanation was incredible since it did not jibe with his action subsequent to his withdrawal of his time deposits, because he returned to the same branch of the same bank, deposited the money again and consolidated his accounts in one checking account,” Quimbo said.
“If he no longer trusted the bank, why did he place the money in a new account with the same bank?” he asked.
Quimbo said the prosecution would have accepted Corona’s justification if he emptied all his peso and dollar deposits with PSBank and transferred them to a bank he trusted.
Quezon Rep. Erin Tañada said it was obvious that Corona played “close-open” with his deposits on Dec. 12 “to conceal his cash assets.”
“CJ Corona has been hiding his wealth through closing and opening accounts in the same bank branch. He is not really fit to remain as chief justice,” he said.
Another prosecution spokesman, Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, said Corona’s claim that the money he withdrew and deposited again with PSBank-Katipunan belonged to Basa-Guidote Enterprises, Inc., the family corporation of his wife Cristina, is not believable.
“The accounts are under his name. It is reasonable to believe that the money is his. He was saying he purposely stayed away from the financial affairs of his wife’s family corporation but how come its funds were placed in his personal account?” he said.
Angara said Corona’s claims only underscore the need for him to personally defend himself starting on Monday “and not hide behind his lawyers and his wife.”
“The Chief Justice should make his statements under oath and the only way to do it is for him to appear before the Senate impeachment court and testify. This is also to allow the prosecution to cross-examine him on his testimony and test his credibility,” he added.
Quimbo said Corona is apparently preparing to allege that, like his peso accounts, his dollar deposits with PSBank also belong to his wife.
This could be gleaned from the statement of defense counsel Ramon Esguerra that it would be Cristina Corona who would answer questions about her husband’s dollar accounts when she testifies before the impeachment court, he said.
Quimbo said it’s obvious that Corona is turning his back on the promise he made in his media blitz that he would explain his dollar deposits.
‘Lift the TRO’
The defense panel is set to present its case this Monday, the start of their turn in the impeachment trial.
They are expected to present proof that there were no irregularities in the SALN and all the funds reportedly contained in Corona’s bank accounts can be explained.
Lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas said the Chief Justice’s wife will testify on the issue of the SALN, specifically the entries pertaining to her family-owned Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc.
Recto welcomed the decision of the defense panel to let Mrs. Corona testify because she would shed light regarding Basa-Guidote.
Drilon, for his part, challenged the Supreme Court to lift the temporary restraining order (TRO) it issued against the opening of the dollar accounts of the Chief Justice in PSBank.
“I challenge the Supreme Court to lift the TRO so that the people may know the truth about the SALN of Chief Justice Corona,” Drilon said.
He said that accounts should be examined to determine how much money is in those numbered accounts and if he reported these in his SALN. – Jess Diaz, Marvin Sy, Edu Punay
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