Corona declared P3.5M in 2010 SALN vis-a-vis P31.7M in 3 accounts

MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) - Chief Justice Renato Corona had a total bank balance of P12 million in a Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) checking account as of December 31, 2010, bringing to P31,752,623.09 Corona's cash in 3 accounts from 2 different banks as of December 31, 2010, according to records brought before the impeachment court on Wednesday and Thursday.

On Thursday, bank manager Leonora Dizon of Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Ayala branch testified on Corona's checking amount with account number 1445-8030-61. She said the account was opened in 1989 and remains active.

Documents presented by the manager showed that the account had year-end balances for the following years:

December 31, 2005 - P149,767.36
December 31, 2006  - P153,395.12
December 31, 2007  - P5,069,711.18  
December 31, 2008  - P1,525,872.87
December 31, 2009 - P678,501.83
December 31, 2010 - P12,024,067.70

When added to the bank balances of Corona's 5 peso accounts in PSBank shown Wednesday, Corona's declaration of P3.5 million in cash and investments in his 2010  Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN) amounts to around 11% of the cash he had in the banks. 

* Corona had a total bank balance of P10,087,966.44 by end 2007. This is higher than the P2.5 million cash and investments Corona declared in his SALN for that year. 

* Corona had a bank balance of P9,178,501.83 by end 2009. This is higher than the P2.5 million cash and investments Corona declared in his SALN for that year. 

* Finally, he had a bank balance of P31,752623.09 by end 2010. This is higher than the P3.5 million cash and investments Corona declared in his SALN for that year. 

In her testimony, Dizon said there is no indication that the checking account is linked to a savings account. 

Defense counsel Serafin Cuevas asked the court to issue subpoenas for Corona's monthly statements of account to show that the end-year balances did not come from a single transaction or one-time deposit. 

"We went this far, your honor, because it is not very clear to us what the prosecution wanted to prove by these documents. If they are merely proving that the..amounts reflected in these accounts were not included in the SALN, they have already gone too far. To us, it appears as though they are prosecuting a case of violation of the Anti-Graft Law," he said. 

He later said he will need to consult Corona after the Chief Justice told his co-counsels via phone call that he has some of the documents. 

Senator-judge Ralph Recto told ANC after the hearing that the defense will have to explain the discrepancy between amounts in the peso bank accounts and Corona's statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN).

"Sa SALN -- P3.5million if I recall -- tapos ang balance iba. How will defense explain discrepancy? Yung ang mahalaga," he said.

"I think ang hinihintay ngayon ng taong bayan ay kung bakit may discrepancies sa bank accounts ni Corona," he added.

"Willing ako pakinggan ang sasabihin ng defense. Tignan natin kung paano nila ipapaliwanag ang discrepancy," Recto said.

Chief prosecutor Rep. Niel Tupas expressed confidence Thursday that the evidence they have will result in Corona's conviction on the impeachment complaint's Article 2.

"Mukhang certain na iyung prosecution that with this alone, Article 2 can stand for the conviction," he said.

Other BPI accounts 

Meanwhile, senator-judges had a debate on Sen. Sergio Osmeña's request to subpoena year-end balances of Corona's other peso accounts in the same BPI branch, including time deposits, certificates of deposit and unit investment trust fund, from 2005-2010.   

Osmeña said the court was limiting itself severely by not looking at Corona's other deposits in the same branch. He later noted that requests for monthly statements of accounts should also apply to Corona's PSBank accounts. 

Cuevas, however, said none of these accounts has been the subject of any examination prior to the filing of the complaint. 

"We have been stating all the while that all this amounts to a fishing expedition because the evidence are not with them when they filed the case. This is not the ordinary procedure for a criminal case," he said. 

Sen. Franklin Drilon said the documents being requested are not evidence for the prosecution or the defense but for the impeachment court. 

Sen. Joker Arroyo said the matter should be decided in caucus in the same way that the impeachment body decided in caucus the request of House prosecutors to subpoena Corona's bank records. 

In the end, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile requested the senator-judges to submit in writing all special requests or concerns that will be discussed in caucus so they could have a record.   

The senator-judges have scheduled a caucus on February 13, Monday at 11 a.m.