Stand by your man

AMADO P. MACASAET

‘There are countless more questions that need answers if Corona relies on Basa Guidote to explain his secret wealth.’

THE defense panel in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona repeatedly hints that the defunct family corporation of his wife Cristina Corona. known as Basa Guidote Enterprises, Inc., will help explain his current net worth.

It is not an impeachable offense for Corona to marry, they seem to argue.

This line actually runs counter to Corona’s previous declarations.

When Corona was under consideration for appointment to the High Court back in 2001, he declared with all machismo that "from the very beginning, I have purposely stayed away from the financial and material affairs of my in-laws."

Corona’s statement was in response to the opposition lodged by Cristina’s uncle, the late Jose Maria Basa III, who told the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) in 2001 that he was opposing Corona’s appointment so "to save the SC from discredit and disrepute."Basa prophesied that Corona "will not be capable of rendering fair and just decisions as he has not exhibited such character."

It turns out that at the time, Cristina was in the midst of a long and bitter legal battle with her relatives. including Basa, over control of the family corporation and its assets.

What appears to be at stake is the sole valuable asset of the family corporation -- a real property in Sampaloc that was eventually sold to the City of Manila in 2001 for about P34.7 million.

Records show that Cristina chalked up a winning streak in the long running legal family feud.

In one case, Cristina was appointed by a probate court as the administrator of the estate of her grandmother, who originally controlled the family corporation. She seemed to be a diligent administrator of the estate. Cristina vigorously disputed the supposed prior transfer of her grandmother’s shares in the corporation to her uncles and aunts. She fulfilled her duty to collate assets pertaining to the estate of her grandmother for eventual distribution to all lawful heirs.

Later, however, despite repeated orders from the probate court, Cristina failed to render an accounting of the estate of her grandmother to the consternation of her other relatives.

By 2003, Cristina eventually wrested control of the family corporation after she claimed to have acquired all the shares of the corporation levied and sold at auction after she won a libel case against her uncle Basa and got an award of P700,000 in damages.

In effect, Cristina effectively parlayed P700,000 into P34.7 Million for herself.

Even better, instead of the shares ending up in the estate for the benefit of all other heirs, Cristina ended up owning the shares exclusively for herself.

The other heirs are probably asking, "Whatever happened to her duty to the other heirs as administrator of the estate? Is she allowed to get the shares for herself?"

It seems to me that Cristina is not only good looking; she is one smart and lucky lady as well. No wonder Corona was smitten by her.

But it would not be surprising if Cristina’s relatives have a totally different estimation of her. They must be thinking that Cristina is one lucky lady because he married a smart lawyer, who later became President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s chief of staff and eventually landed a seat in the Supreme Court. No wonder, Basa vehemently opposed Corona’s appointment back in 2001.

Despite Corona’s macho claim in 2001 that he has "stayed away from the financial and material affairs of my in-laws," by 2003, Corona admitted in his Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) having obtained a "cash advance" of P11 million from his "wife’s family corporation" which liability he claims to have whittled down through time.

Also in 2003, Corona declared for the first time as a member of the court the supposed business interest and financial connection of his wife with Basa Guidote without declaring that, by that time, his wife controlled what he referred to as his "wife’s family corporation."

Fast forward to last week when the P36.7 million impeachment day withdrawals from Corona’s accounts with PSBank were revealed, Cristina was quoted live by television anchor Karen Davila to have made the clarification that the funds withdrawn actually belong to Basa Guidote and not Corona. Cristina later seemed to have disowned this statement. Her husband’s lawyers nevertheless kept repeating this line to media.

Given the history of litigation surrounding Basa Guidote, why did its funds end up in the personal account of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court? Was it meant to keep it beyond the reach of Cristina’s relatives given the high office that Corona holds?If Cristina indeed owned the family corporation in 2003 when it lent P11 million to Corona, was Cristina actually just lending money to her husband? If that is so, was the "cash advance" meant to simulate a liability between husband and wife to justify their succeeding asset buying spree?

There are countless more questions that need answers if Corona relies on Basa Guidote to explain his secret wealth.

Unless of course Corona ends up claiming later that he also won the super lotto.

All these remind me of what has been said before, "Oh what tangled web we weave, when first we try to deceive."