Megaworld told to submit proof Corona's condo sustained typhoon damage

MANILA, Philippines (2nd UPDATE) - An official of Megaworld Corp. told the impeachment court on Tuesday that they voluntarily gave Chief Justice Renato Corona a P10-million price reduction for his penthouse unit in The Bellagio, Taguig City due to "force majeure" and not for any consideration from a high-ranking government official.

Megaworld senior vice-president for marketing and sales Noli Hernandez said the penthouse sold to the Coronas was originally priced at P24 million, but “unfortunately, a typhoon struck and the unit sustained damages.”

He said they gave a nearly P5-million price reduction--from P24 million to P19.6 million--to the chief justice. Hernandez said the price reduction would have been given regardless of who the buyer was.

Hernandez added the selling price was later reduced by another P5 million, representing discounts and other factors because the Coronas were prompt payers. They paid in four installments in about a year.

Hernandez said he did not even know it was the Coronas who were buying the penthouse unit.

Upon cross-examination, he said the Megaworld cases before the Supreme Court does not have anything to do with the transaction. “In fact, we lost a total of P47 million in the 2 cases.”

He is referring to Megaworld Globus Asia versus Tanseco, which the SC disposed on October 9, 2009. There, Megaworld lost that case for its failure to complete and deliver a condominium unit to its buyer. Megaworld was ordered to pay P21 million. 

In another decision in 2007 entitled Megaworld Globus Asia Inc versus Clerica Holdings Inc., the court also ordered Megaworld to pay a client around P26 million.

Both cases were concurred in by Corona.

Damages
 
Hernandez was made to appear before the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, today since another officer who was subpoenaed could not speak on the pricing of the condominium units.

He said he was the one who negotiated for the property in question, but did not know it was the Coronas who were trying to purchase the unit. He said it was Corona’s wife, Cristina, who was the one who faced his staff and informed them of their intention to buy.

Private prosecutor Joseph Joemer Perez tried to deduce from the witness that the P10 million was a discount that should not have been accepted by Corona, but Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile several times twitted him for cross-examining a witness.

“You’re twisting his answer, the reduction is done voluntarily by the seller. So it can’t be said that it’s a discount, they’ve lowered the price themselves,” Enrile told Perez.

Hernandez said it was also his decision to drastically reduce the price since the company was confronted with a global recession.

At some point, senator-judge Manuel Villar stood up, saying it was a market strategy to even give out discounts as high as 40%. He said there was a firm last year that offered its units at a 40% discount.

He did not immediately disclose it was SM Development Corp., drawing laughs from the audience. Villar is the owner of Vista Land, a competitor of SMDC.

Several senator-judges questioned the relevance of the testimony, saying it does not reflect the allegation in article 2, which is the non-disclosure of Corona’s statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.

The prosecution, however, manifested that they are still trying to prove their case, and that Corona should have disclosed the money he used to fix the damaged unit.

Hernandez was also asked by senator-judges to bring to court the engineer’s reports and other documentary evidence to support the company's claims that the penthouse unit sustained damages. The witness said he would submit the documents if they are still in the company's records.