Three articles now focus of prosecutors
TO resolve the impeachment case against Chief Justice Renato Corona more quickly, the House prosecution panel is thinking of trimming the articles of impeachment against the chief magistrate from eight to three, a leader of the House of Representatives said on Thursday.
House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales 2nd of Mandaluyong City (Metro Manila) revealed that considering the handful of objections on the part of Corona’s lawyers and issues on technicalities, the Chief Jus- tice’s impeachment could take as long as March 2013 if the prosecution won’t reduce the number of impeachment articles.
“We might be forced to shorten the process so that we can finish it by March 2012. If you ask me, Articles 2, 3, and 7
would already stick,” Gonzales told reporters.
Under Article 2, the Chief Justice is accused of committing culpable violation of the Constitution/betrayal of public trust for failure to disclose his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth as required by law.
Article 3 alleges that Corona committed culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayed public trust for flip- flopping decisions of the Supreme Court in final and executory cases, and for appointing his wife Cristina to a government post.
Article 7 accuses the chief magistrate of betraying public trust for issuing a temporary restraining order on the watch list orders on former President and now Rep. Gloria Arroyo of Pampanga province and her husband Jose Miguel.
Prosecution witness and Philippine Savings Bank (Psbank) President Pascual Garcia 3rd had testified before the Senate impeachment court that Corona has P19 million under two Psbank deposits as of December 31, 2010.
Another prosecution witness, Bank of the Philippine Islands ( BPI) Ayala Branch manager Leonora Diaz, on the other hand testified that the Chief Justice has P12 million worth of bank deposit under one BPI account.
The P31 million worth of bank deposits in Psbank and BPI are not reflected in Corona’s wealth statement, since he only declared P3.5 million worth of cash and investments under his assets in his 2010 wealth statement.
Moreover, Commissioner Kim JacintoHenares of the Bureau of Internal Revenue testified that the High Court chief undervalued his net worth in his wealth statements for six of the last 10 years.
Citing income tax returns vis-à-vis wealth statements, land titles, and certificate for authorized registration, Henares disclosed that Corona failed to list his nine properties under his 2002 and 2003 wealth statements.
Moreover, the Chief Justice understated his net worth to P7 million instead of P14 million, also in his 2003 wealth statement.
The following year, Corona also failed to declare his Columns property in his wealth statement and reduced his net worth to a mere P7 million when it should have been P21 million.
In 2005, the chief magistrate did not list his Fort Bonifacio property, and again reduced his net worth to P8 million from P31 million in his wealth statement that year.
Corona again cut his net worth in his wealth statements in 2007 (P11 million instead of P24 million), 2008 (P12 million instead of P25 million) and 2009 (P14.5 million instead of P52 million). The Bellagio property, which he and Cristina acquired in 2009, was not declared in his 2009 wealth statement.
“We are pretty confident that we have sufficient evidence in Article 2 alone, even without the dollar accounts. We can do it [shorten the process] because the defense will also have to present their case,” Gonzales said.
Rep. Romero Quimbo of Marikina City (also in Metro Manila), a spokesman for the prosecutors, earlier told reporters that the prosecution panel need not prove all eight articles of impeachment against the Chief Justice as soon as they have presented sufficient evidence.