Defense closes presentation of evidence

The defense camp of Chief Justice Renato Corona closed temporarily its presentation of evidence yesterday with the testimony of former Manila mayor Joselito Atienza, who attested to the expropriation by the city government of parcels of lands in Sampaloc owned by the Basa-guidote Enterprises Inc. (BGEI) for P34 million. The family of Corona’s wife Cristina owned BGEI.

The firm was reportedly the source of an P11-million cash advance by Corona, which reflected in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) in 2004.

Lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas said the P34 million withdrawn by Corona from his bank account with Philippine Savings (PS) Bank on the day he was impeached last year could actually be part of the amount received from the Manila city government.

“Our defense is that, this money, which allegedly were deposited, whether in the dollar account or peso account, are merely held in trust by the Chief Justice coming from the proceeds of the Basa-guidote account, and also the money sent to them by their children,” Cuevas told the impeachment court.

Corona’s alleged keeping of multimillion peso and dollar accounts is the meat of the prosecution’s accusations in Article 2 against the chief magistrate.

The issue on Corona’s bank deposits as well as questions on whether he would testify in his trial have remained unresolved at the moment.

“The Basa-guidote property is their panacea, it is the answer to the bank deposits which thus far we have been able to uncover,” prosecution spokesman Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo said.

But defense lawyer Ramon Esguerra said the team is slowly debunking the prosecution’s accusations.

“I think we are doing well, we have done it slowly but surely. We have presented 14 witnesses in only eight days. They (The prosecution) presented five witnesses, I think, after two weeks,” Esguerra told The

STAR.

“We were able to answer all the issues that they have raised against the Chief Justice. And then hopefully, we will be able to explain all. That’s what we have done, and that’s what we are doing and at the end of the day, the truth of the story will come out,” Esguerra added.

Esguerra said the defense was able to clear the issue on the properties of Corona – which turned out to be only limited to five properties as listed in his SALN.

Seen as most significant of the defense’s witness was Demetrio Vicente, the buyer of the 3,700- square meter property in Marikina Heights, Marikina sold by Mrs. Corona and her sister several years ago.

Even some senators expressed belief that Vicente was a credible witness amid the prosecution’s accusations that he may have been acting only as administrator of the alleged Corona property, which was not declared in his SALN from 2001 to 2010.

The land titles remained under the name of Mrs. Corona two decades after the purported sale. Vicente had not made any effort to transfer them in his name.

Land Registration Authority administrator Eulalio Diaz, a former batchmate of President Aquino at Ateneo Grade School, was grilled by senators over the letter he sent to lead prosecutor Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. which contained alleged 45 properties of the Chief Justice.

During direct examination, Diaz revealed that 17 of the 45 properties listed in the letter have been cancelled.

Only six titles – two of which refer to the property in Xavierville Subdivision in Quezon City – remained registered in the names of the Corona couple. These comprise five properties, which Corona disclosed in his SALN, the defense said.

But the prosecution argued that the properties named under two of Corona’s children and a son-in-law were actually owned by the couple, which should have been reflected in his SALN.

The defense camp also presented witnesses, including Supreme Court finance officer Araceli Bayuga, who testified that Corona earned P21 million in salaries and allowances while he was still justice and then as chief justice. Also presented were secretaries of the Senate and House of Representatives’ electoral tribunal.

“Basa-guidote cannot be discussed with just one witness. There are issues involving BGEI with the local government… We will connect the dots, so to speak, about BasaGuidote,” Esguerra said.

The issue on Corona’s bank accounts will be dealt with once the impeachment court resumes on May 7. “Panghuli na yun (That’s the last),” Esguerra added.

Defense spokesmen and counsels Rico Paolo Quicho and Karen Jimeno said the defense will continue the presentation of witnesses and documentary evidence with regard to BGEI by May, and that they are always ready to explain Corona’s bank accounts.

PCIJ will not testify

Journalists from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) will not volunteer to testify before the impeachment court as they formally opposed a request from the camp of Corona for them to appear during the proceedings.

PCIJ journalists said the defense panel’s aim to show that omissions and inaccuracies in SALN are rampant among those in government is irrelevant.

Lawyers of journalists Malou Mangahas, Karol Ilagan and Ed Lingao said such defense is called “Everybody Does It,” which assumes that since everybody does it, everybody is excused.

“The ‘Everybody Does It’ defense is irrelevant and therefore inadmissible under Sections 3 and 4, Rule 128, Section 4, Rule 21 of the Rules of Court,” they said in an eight-page opposition dated March 21.

Citing figures from the Civil Service Commission, the PCIJ journalists said there are around 1.3 million state employees as of the second quarter of 2010.

They noted that the PCIJ report titled “SALN: Good Law, Bad Results” did “a cursory review” of the SALNS of about 1,500 senior elective and appointive officials since 1998.

The report found that SALNS are “mostly deficient in form and substance.”