Corona’s small lady

AMADO P. MACASAET

‘With his secret riches revealed, Corona professes that he has not stolen from anyone. I am reminded of Richard Nixon professing that he is not a crook.’

CHIEF Justice Renato Corona teaches us in one of his decisions that ifthe assets of a government official are not commensurate to his known income, the assets may be legally presumed to be ill-gotten.

In another decision, a lowly court employee was sacked by theSupreme Court for not declaring her market stall in her SALN. People manning the judiciary should be held to a higher standard.

Thanks to the help of another small lady, the impeachment trial so far revealed that as of end of 2010, Chief Justice Renato Corona held P31.7 million in the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and PSBank.

For the same year, Corona declared in his Statement of Assets and Liabilities (SALN) that he only had P3.5 Million in "cash and investments’.

On the day he was impeached. PSBank Katipunan Branch Corona made huge withdrawals from his PSBank accounts amounting to more than P36.7 million.

What is more shocking is that the funds we know of today do not even include those that Corona may have stashed in other banks or in secret foreign currency accounts, the existence of which have been confirmed by PSBank.

But not to worry. Corona promised to reveal all his bank accounts in due time. We can all just wait in the meantime. Just like we did when he promised to reveal his SALNs in due time, only to see Sen. Frank Drilon virtually prying them off the hands of the Supreme Court clerk.

While funds can easily be withdrawn and shuffled under different accounts, real properties cannot be moved even in times of emergency.

So far Corona has been shown by end of 2010 to have under- declared his known real property holdings by at least PI9 million after comparing their acquisition cost with the values he declared in his SALN.

Again, this does not even include the hefty price adjustments he got for "water-damaged" assets placed in the name of his children, who like him, have not been declaring any significant income for tax purposes.

But not to worry, Corona also promised to sign a deed of donation in favor of anyone who can find any of his hidden wealth. We can all have deeds of donation drafted in the meantime. Finders keepers.

Corona surely knows our Tax Code well having been a tax lawyer inthe accounting firm SGV. He knows that non-filing by a government official of tax returns means that he has no taxable income other than his government salary.

For 2010, Corona earned P657,755.57, as a government official. By the end of the same year, he had P31.7 million in cash in two banks and real property holdings worth at least P37.6 Million.

Looking back at the last SALN Corona filed before joining the Supreme Court, his declared net worth was only P 14.9 million. By end of 2010, his assets grew to well over P69.3 million with no liabilities.

With his secret riches revealed, Corona professes that he has not stolen from anyone. I am reminded of Richard Nixon professing that he is not a crook.

Corona says his wealth came from hard work and frugal lifestyle. His Jesuit education inculcated in him Christian values after all.

I too have worked long and hard, remained frugal and even paid taxes on my income.

Yet, I do not own even a fraction of Corona’s known assets.

But then again, neither have I been appointed to the Supreme Court and eventually named Chief Justice by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Seeing all these, the lowly court clerk must be scratching her head and asking herself, why am out of a job and Corona is not?

Corona can very well tell her, "Do things big time, small lady!"