Tuesday, January 31, 2012

‘No special discount for Corona’


A typhoon, coupled with the impact of a global financial crisis, allowed Chief Justice Renato Corona to acquire a 303.5-square-meter penthouse condominium unit at The Fort in Taguig City in 2009 at a “reduced price.”
A key prosecution witness called on Day 9 of Corona’s impeachment trial to show that the Chief Justice got a hefty P10-million “discount” because of cases pending in his court in the purchase of the unit at the Bellagio ended up giving testimony in favor of the defense.
Noli Hernandez, Megaworld Corporation’s senior vice president for marketing and sales, told senator-judges that Corona received only a regular 15-percent discount, which would have also been given to any other buyer at the time of the purchase.
In his testimony, Hernandez said Megaworld took some P5 million off the original P24.5-million selling price of the Bellagio penthouse, partly because of the effects of the global financial crisis.
Hernandez said the unit later on bought by Corona—the last unsold at Bellagio—was also unfinished or “semi-bare” and sustained “water damage” from a typhoon.
“We were thinking of maybe repackaging the whole thing or redesigning it … and we decided that it was going to cost us more to have it redone and it made more economic sense for us to give it at a steep discount,” he told the court.
“From P24 million, I decided to just lower the price to P19.6 million. So, there was a reduction of around P5 million because that’s how it was going to cost to have it redone, to go to the market and sell this particular (unit).”
Hernandez added: “Normally, we would not have given the P5-million reduction in (the original) price had the unit not been damaged by typhoon.”
Said Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile: “So, actually, the discount was not because of any favor but because of force majeure?” The witness answered in the affirmative.
Hernandez said the only “special” discount given to the Chief Justice amounted to P1 million. He noted that Megaworld once sold a unit in a separate McKinley project at half its original price.
The witness added that the P5-million price reduction was not made because it was the Chief Justice making the purchase.
“From P19.6 million, we gave an additional, basically P5-million discount and of course, out of that additional P5-million discount, P3 million or 15 percent was given because the client was paying almost in cash,” Hernandez said.

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Embarrassment of riches


One, before the trial resumed last Monday, several senators again reminded the world about the impropriety of the prosecution bringing its case before the media, particularly in the form of press conferences. The prosecution had been warned, they said. If they didn’t comply they could be cited for contempt.
True enough, there’s something a little askew about prosecution holding press conferences before and after the trial. They should leave that to commentators who are relatively independent, or at least are not thoroughly compromised by the very nature of their positions.
But it gets a little more complicated outside of press conferences. The proscription presumes that reporters are a passive lot who wait for their sources of news to drop bread crumbs on them. When the opposite is true: Reporters will badger you with questions, even, or especially, of the speculative type. That’s what has gotten a lot of officials in hot water, answering those types of questions and finding themselves on the front pages next day as having offered those thoughts voluntarily. The prosecutors get to be asked questions about where they are going with their witnesses, they are perfectly within their rights to answer.
It’s certainly beyond the impeachment’s court’s scope to prevent them from doing so. The impeachment court’s power to discipline its ranks ends where the freedom of the press begins. The prosecution though would do well to observe some niceties and stop looking too eager to bludgeon their case home. It makes them look rather insecure, and could backfire in the end by making the defense, and their client, look like the underdog.
Two, Serafin Cuevas asked witness Giovanni Ng to pay a little more attention to his questions as he was getting on in years and couldn’t remember them himself. If he himself had been paying a little more attention to the proceedings, he would have seen that Jinggoy Estrada had already made the case for him. His cross had to do with whether or not the eye-popping discount Megaworld gave Renato Corona for a penthouse in Bellagio – a whopping 40 percent – was really eye-popping. Estrada had asked questions along those lines earlier, only to get answers he wasn’t banking on. Ng opined it wasn’t.
Ng said the discount owed to certain blemishes in Corona’s unit, the fixing of which would have cost Megaworld time and money, and the fact that 2008, when Corona obtained the property, was the pit of a global recession. It was reasonable to offer that kind of discount. Of course, it would help the prosecution if it could show that Megaworld had pending cases before the Supreme Court when Corona transacted for the property, but they would never be able to prove wrongdoing. Quite simply, Megaworld is not the best source to pin down Corona on that issue. What business will readily admit it effectively bribed a chief justice?

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Monday, January 30, 2012

Young lawyer stands ground in Corona trial


Private prosecutor Joseph Joemer Perez stood his ground before defense counsel Serafin Cuevas and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile for an hour or so at the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Observers noted it was the first time in the first eight days of the trial that a prosecutor was not “eaten alive” by the defense.
Perez, 31, was assigned to directly examine prosecution witness Giovanni Ng, finance director of Megaworld Corp. on the supposed properties of Corona and his wife Cristina that the Chief Justice had allegedly failed to declare in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.
Despite the objections raised by Cuevas, a former Supreme Court Justice and justice secretary, Perez spoke firmly and without hesitation as he asserted the relevance of the questions he posed to the witness.
Perez, a valedictorian and cum laude of the University of the Philippines College of Law in 2004, was querying Ng about the P14.5-million penthouse at The Bellagio in Taguig City allegedly owned by Corona when Cuevas launched a barrage of objections.
At one point, Ng told the impeachment court that a Bellagio penthouse unit would be considered prime property as it had a sweeping view of the Manila Golf Course and is only affordable to individuals belonging to the A-B class.
“That unit bought by the spouses Renato and Cristina Corona, is it a penthouse or an ordinary unit?” asked Perez, who placed eighth in the bar examinations.
“No basis, your honor,” Cuevas interjected, addressing Senate President Enrile. “There were no previous questions relative to the character of the property to be testified,” he said.
“Let the witness just answer,” Enrile replied. “Let’s see how it is relevant or material.”
When Perez asked Ng about the number of bedrooms, Cuevas again intervened, saying Ng was “incompetent” to comment.
“Lay the basis (for the question),” Enrile challenged Perez, prompting the prosecutor to rephrase his question.
“Are you familiar with basic characteristics of this penthouse,” he asked Ng.
“Very leading, your honor,” Cuevas protested.
“Your honor,” Perez replied. “Precisely I am asking…”
Enrile ordered him to continue.
“Are you familiar with the basic characteristics or layout of this property,” he asked again.
“This is precisely the same question, your honor,” Cuevas barked, “that, we have been objecting to and we were sustained by the court. There is no basis here, not even any showing.”
“Actually, your honor, the objection was overruled,” Perez noted confidently.
The exchange exasperated Enrile who turned to Ng. “Witness,” the Senate President asked. “Are you familiar with the penthouse? Have you been there?”
“No, Sir,” Ng said hesitantly.
“Objection sustained,” Enrile said, siding with Cuevas.
Rephrasing his question, Perez asked Ng: “Do you know how many floors there are?”
“Immaterial, your honor,” Cuevas butted in. “And unless you can show the materiality…”
“Let the witness answer,” Enrile cut him.

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Cuevas denies Inquirer story but transcript says otherwise


Retired Supreme Court Justice Serafin Cuevas on Monday said there was no truth to a Philippine Daily Inquirer story which reported him as saying that someone from Malacañang had tried to pressure him into quitting as chief lawyer for impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Supposedly in exchange for withdrawing as chief defense counsel in the Corona case, criminal charges would be dropped against Magtanggol Gatdula, the sacked chief of the National Bureau of Investigation and, like Cuevas, a member of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC).
Interviewed on Radyo Inquirer, Cuevas also denied having said that he was subjected to some form of “harassment” by the Bureau of Internal Revenue over family-owned buildings in Quezon City, days after Corona’s  impeachment trial began on January 16.
“That is not true. I did not say anything like that. I deny that,” Cuevas said in Filipino.
In the Inquirer story, the 83-year-old retired justice said he was approached by one of his former law students—whom he described as now one of  Malacañang’s “rah-rah boys”—and asked to leave the defense team. In exchange for his withdrawal, the kidnapping case against Gatdula would be dropped.

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‘Corona got P10-M discount’


Should Chief Justice Renato Corona be removed from office for receiving a P10-million discount in the purchase of a “defective” condominium unit?
The question on Monday surfaced after the prosecution alleged that Corona got such a price reduction, purportedly representing 40 percent off the original amount, when he and his wife Cristina bought a penthouse unit at The Bellagio in Taguig City on Dec. 16, 2009.
But prosecution witness Giovanni Ng, finance director of property developer Megaworld Corp., admitted that the unit had “technical and finishing issues,” which partly explained why it pitched the unit at a lower amount.
The witness said the prevailing global financial crisis, which affected real estate, was also a factor at the time of the purchase.
The prosecution presented the witness on Day 8 of the impeachment trial on Article 2—that Corona failed to declare his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN)—in an apparent effort to show purported irregularities in the purchase of Unit 38B at The Bellagio, and a separate property at McKinley Hill subdivision, also in Taguig City.
“We were informed by the witness that Chief Justice Renato Corona received a 40-percent discount from Megaworld Corp. equivalent to about P10 million and we believe, your honor, this is highly material because it goes into the valuation of the property in the SALN,” said private prosecutor Joseph Perez.
In a posttrial interview, defense lawyers pointed out that the P10-million discount was stated by Perez—not by Ng—and protested that  prosecution spokespersons were using the private prosecutor’s statement to malign Corona and to suggest that it had something to do with unspecified Megaworld court cases.
“We will make it clear that that has not been asked (during the trial),” said defense lawyer Tranquil Salvador III. “But since it’s already being talked about outside, this is what I will suggest, open the decisions, look into the decisions of the Chief Justice.”
“It’s very easy to do that,” Salvador said. “Go to the Supreme Court portal and look for Megaworld.”

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Santiago lambasts prosecution panel again


Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago went through a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedure after suffering from high blood pressure in the impeachment trial on Thursday.
The good news is she’s fit to resume work as a judge in today’s (Monday) proceedings. The bad news is that House prosecutors and their private counsels, might be in for more scolding.
“There’s nothing wrong with my brain, contrary to the impression of my enemies,” Santiago said in an interview over radio dzBB, three days after her BP shot up to 180/90 and she had to leave the trial early.
The former Regional Trial Court judge on Sunday lambasted prosecutors for complaining in media about her demeanor in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
She was incensed after anchor Nimfa Ravelo played an audio clip of Rep. Neptali Gonzales II complaining in Filipino and English that Santiago was embarrassing the prosecutors on TV. “We both have constituents, we both are respected by people who voted for us,” Gonzales said.
Santiago lashed back in Filipino, saying senators and representatives were “no equals.” She also pointed out that only the Senate was tasked by the Constitution to try and decide impeachment cases.
“They’re just trying to look good (nagpapaguwapo) because of the next elections. They only have a year to campaign that’s why they are maximizing their TV exposure so the voters would know them,” she said.
Santiago also blasted House members for allegedly “saying things outside of the truth … just to be in the papers.”
“As much as possible, a congressman wants to be a senator that’s why they like issuing press releases so they would be known right away,” she said.
Santiago said the public should distinguish between her role as a judge in the impeachment court and her critics, who might be just after free publicity for the coming elections at her expense.
“He will use any means to be known in public because if he says something against me he could be lucky and land in the papers and and media for his scandalous remarks,” she said in Filipino.

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Palace pressuring me to quit–Cuevas


Who wants retired Supreme Court Justice Serafin Cuevas out of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona?
The 83-year-old Cuevas, who has become a sort of a rock star because of his performance as lead defense counsel in the afternoon TV-radio spectacle before a nationwide audience, has revealed purported efforts by Malacañang to get him out just two weeks into the Senate trial.
Cuevas said he had been approached on a number of occasions by a lawyer to deliver a supposed message from Malacañang.
He said he was being asked to leave the defense panel in exchange for the withdrawal of the criminal case against Magtanggol Gatdula, the recently sacked director of the National Bureau of Investigation.
“I was told that the President wanted me out as a bargaining chip in the case, that they would no longer pursue it provided that I withdraw,” the counsel said in Filipino in an interview with the Inquirer in his Makati City office on Saturday night.
Cuevas is also the legal counsel of the influential Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), of which Gatdula is also a member. Gatdula has been implicated in the alleged kidnapping of an undocumented Japanese woman.
Cuevas identified the emissary, supposedly a member of Malacañang’s “rah-rah” boys, but asked that his name be withheld. He said the man, his former student at the University of the Philippines’ College of Law, feared Palace repercussions.
“I know him to be with Malacañang, (but) I’m not sure whether he’s authorized or he is doing it himself,” the defense counsel said. “I don’t speak with the President anyway … I do not want to add credence to that.”
Asked for comment, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a phone interview that if Cuevas had proof, he should identify the emissary.

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Corona assets, taxes don’t match


The year Chief Justice Renato Corona supposedly bought the classy 303.5-square-meter penthouse worth P14 million in The Bellagio in Taguig City, he paid a withholding tax of P155,556.20 and earned a gross income of only P621,528.62.
Another senator-judge from the Liberal Party had to stand up to elicit this information from a witness on Wednesday.
This time, a seemingly impatient Senator Ralph Recto raised his hand and began asking Kim Jacinto-Henares, commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, about Corona’s tax payments at the height of a verbal tussle between defense counsel Serafin Cuevas and private prosecutor Arthur Lim.
In a series of questions to Henares, Recto elicited figures on tax deductions from the so-called “alpha” lists that government agencies and private companies submit detailing income tax deductions of their personnel after Lim failed to extract these because of defense objections supported by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the presiding officer.
Cuevas questioned the relevance of the presentation of a so-called alpha list the Supreme Court provides yearly to the BIR.  The list details the income earned by “local employees” of a government office as well as the withholding tax taken from their salaries as provided by Section 51 of the National Internal Revenue Code.
Henares explained that since Corona’s compensation and withholding taxes are reported in the tribunal’s alpha list, he no longer had to file income tax returns (ITRs) like other taxpayers.
Lim explained that Henares was presented to the impeachment court to testify on Corona’s earnings from 2002 when he was appointed associate justice of the Supreme Court up to 2010.
Then outgoing President Gloria Arroyo named Corona, her former chief of staff and legal adviser, as Chief Justice in May 2010.
Henares was summoned to the court on Day 6 of the trial to provide copies of ITR declarations, but it turned out that Corona had not been filing these and she had no such documents. Instead, she said she had the alpha list.
Under Recto’s questioning, Henares said that in 2006, based on the alpha submissions, Corona’s withholding tax amounted to P109,706.60 on gross compensation of P465,597.
Other details from the list showed Corona paid  P117,399.31 from his P488,156.57 income in 2007; P154,057.75 from an income of P604,388.46 in 2008; P155,556.20 from an income of P621,528.62 in 2009 and P176,577.32 from gross earnings of P657,755.57 in 2010.
Recto later told the court he did not intend to aid the prosecution. “It pains me that the parties here seem not to understand each other.  That’s the only reason why I stood up,” Recto explained.
Last week, the defense panel accused Recto’s Liberal Party ally, Senator Franklin Drilon of “substituting” for the prosecution, and said it was considering filing a motion to get Drilon to inhibit himself from the proceedings for being biased.
Drilon last week prompted the Supreme court clerk of court, Enriqueta Esguerra-Vidal, to release Corona’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) to the Senate although she did not have the tribunal’s authorization to hand them out.

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Prosecution probes Coronas’ ITRs


MANILA, Philippines – Chief Justice Renato Corona filed his income tax return (ITR) through an “alphalist” while wife, Cristina, was a “one-time taxpayer”, according to Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares in her testimony before the Senate, acting as an impeachment court, at the resumption of Corona’s trial Wednesday.
Henares’ testimony came after the Senate ruled that the prosecution could present evidence concerning the multimillion-peso properties he had acquired during his stint as a court official but not on allegations that he had amassed ill-gotten wealth as contained in separate paragraphs in Article 2 of the Eight Articles of Impeachment that have been levelled against the Chief Justice.
At the start of her testimony, Henares testified that although Corona did not have a record of having fileincome tax returns (ITR) before the BIR from 2002 to 2010 through the usual process, he did so via the alphalist, which contains the names of employees, Corona included, income and amount withheld and filed before the BIR.
“He [Corona] did not file any income tax returns for tax year 2002 to 2010,” Henares said, responding to a question from private prosecutor Arthur Lim, who was conducting a direct examination of the witness.
But Henares said that through the alphalist, the Chief Justice declared the following: A gross income of P657, 755.57 and P176,577.32  tax paid in 2010; income of P621, 528.62 and withholding tax of P155,556.20 in 2009; gross income of P604,388.46 and P154,057.75 in 2008; gross income of P488, 156.57 and withholding tax of P117, 399.31 in 2007; and a total income of P465, 156.57 and withholding tax of P109,706 in 2006.
The BIR has no tax records of the Chief Justice from 2002 to 2005 even in the alphalist that was submitted annually by the Supreme Court, said Henares.
Senator Ralph Recto, who sits as one of the judge in the trial, clarified that the non-filing of the ITR by Corona did not mean that he did not pay his taxes.
“Hindi nangangahulugan na hindi s’ya [Corona] nagbayad dahil trabaho ng Supreme Court ang kumaltas at magremit sa BIR [This doesn’t mean that he didn’t pay because it is the work of the Supreme Court to deduct and remit to the BIR]. Tama ho ba iyon [Is that right]?” Recto asked.
“Tama ho iyon [That is correct],” said the BIR chief.
“To be fair, Mr. President, hindi nangangahulugan na kailangan siyang magkaroon ng income tax return kung wala naman siyang [this doesn’t mean that he should have an income tax return because he doesn’t have an] income tax return,” Recto said.



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