Defense: Aquino’s men flout SALn rule

ABAD ADMITS USING ASSESSED VALUE ON PROPERTIES

The counsels fop Chief Justice Renato Corona yesterday alleged members of the Aquino Cabinet regularly flout the law requiring disclosure of assets and liabilities despite the executive department’s insistence of using the same law to persecute the head magistrate.

Noting a recent published report of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) uncovering shortcomings in the compliance with the disclosure law by Cabinet officials in filing their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALns), defense spokesman Ramon Esguerra said the report only proves that the Aquino administration is only interested in misusing the law to pin down Corona.

“The malice they are imputing is more imagined than real as the assets were declared in the pertinent SALns of the CJ,” Esguerra told the Tribune in a text message.

House prosecutors during the impeachment trial the other day in cross-examining defense witness engineer Roberto Villaluz who is the officer-in-charge of the Taguig City assessor’s office claimed Corona misdeclared his properties in his SALn by not quoting its acquisition cost.

“It is imperative and relevant for us to show that there is nothing wrong, legal or otherwise, on the alleged failure of the Chief Justice to indicate in his SALNs the acquisition costs of his real properties as those costs cannot be concealed from anyone. The deeds of sale of these properties are public records available to anyone in the BIR and Register of Deeds,” he explained.

Esguerra quoting an earlier published report pointed out that Budget Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad also did not indicate the current or fair market values and acquisition costs of six properties that he owns. The properties include a house and lot in Quezon City and three lots in Batanes with a total assessed value of P993,070.

Abad is part of the Ateneo Law batch whose members also include executive Paquito Ochoa, LRA administrator Eulalio C Diaz III, Bureau of Internal Revenue Kim Jacinto – Henares and senator Teofisto “TG” Guingona III.

Abad immediately issued a statement acknowledging that he based the declaration of his real estate properties in his annual SALns on the assessed values and not the acquisition costs.

“Since I joined the government, I have faithfully submitted my SALn. My public service records— whether in Congress or Cabinet — will bear me out that I never missed a year of filing my SALn. Everything I own and their corresponding value — whether real property, investments or even artwork and books — has been faithfully disclosed in my SALN,” Abad said in his statement.

But Abad said that he acknowledgedthat with respect to his real properties, “I have declared their value based on the assessed value, which has been the basis of the taxes I have paid against these.”

In all my years in public service, my attention has never been called to this, whether by the Civil Service Commission, the Office of the Ombudsman or the Commission on Appointments, he added.

Abad said that in the interest of transparency, he will review his previous SALns and include the acquisition cost and the fair market value, to the extent that the pertinent documents are still available.

“This will also be reflected in the SALn that I will file in April for year 2011,” he added.

The PCIJ report said another Cabinet official, Health Secretary Enrique Ona, also failed to accurately disclose details of his wealth after simply typing the word “various” for his real properties and leaving blank the assessed value and fair market value of his properties.

Ona, however, declared stocks and investments of P75.43 million and loans amounting to P5.75 million.

“Although the law is good for public accountability, many fall short when it comes to its implementation,” Esguerra commented on radio even as he said this does not exempt Corona from following the law.

The Tribune also earlier reported that Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima had not made proper disclosures in his SALNs.

Purisima’s 2010 SALn stated investments in Filhouse Gem Inc. worth P121 million, MHC commercial worth P9 million and cash and investments worth P85 million as his main source of personal and other properties along with shares in various country clubs and jewelry and art collections worth P10 million.

He listed the years when he acquired the properties as “various” that run counter to the requirement of detailed disclosures.

A member of the House prosecution panel, meanwhile, expressed serious doubts that Corona had used government funds to purchase condominiums and other posh properties in Metro Manila.

According to Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, the defense panel had failed to account for the real income of the chief justice relative to his properties which was purchased when he came to the Supreme Court.

“Firstly, his supposed P 21 million 10-year-income reported by witness Araceli Bayuga is not all income as it includes representation and transportation allowance, augmentation budget for the Supreme Court Christmas parties or gifts, and other budgetary allowances. CJ Corona cannot spend the budget for his official functions to buy condominiums as this could constitute malversation especially since CJ Corona himself certified that these were spent in the implementation of his official functions,” Colmenares said in a statement yesterday.

Colmenares explained that if Corona had used the funds of the Supreme Court in buying some of his properties, he should have declared that in his SALN.

Colmenares said that the P21 million that was alleged to have been earned by the Chief Justice during his incumbency at the High Court, will not even be enough for him to buy his condominiums at the Bellagio (P14.5 milyon) and at McKinley Hill (P9 milyon).

“His income is definitely less than the amount he spent in acquiring the properties. This is unexplained wealth, period,” Colmenares said.

Reps. Juan Edgardo Angara of Aurora and Lorenzo Tañada 3rd of Quezon, spokespersons of the prosecution panel, in a press conference echoed the same sentiments. They said that based on the testimonies of four defense witnesses during the impeachment trial Corona could not have bought his properties with an aggregate income of P26 million starting from the time when he was associate justice of the Supreme Court.

“The defense wants to show that Corona has enough money to buy these properties, but it is clear, as stated by their own witnesses, that his income is not enough. There is deception on the part of the defense,” Tañada said..

Angara pointed out that Corona only declared his Bellagio and Bonifacio Ridge properties in his 2010 SALN even if they were purchased in 2004 and 2005 and undervalued them to P6 million and P2.3 million respectively.

Such inconsistencies, Angara noted, explains the top jurist’s inaccurate Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) as alleged by the prosecution.

“It is clear that it is the Chief Justice who affixed his signature in his SALN. They can’t say that oh, we are sorry, we made a mistake,” Angara added.

In 2010 alone, the Chief Justice only declared P3.5 million worth of cash even if he has P31 million worth of bank deposits as of December 31, 2010.

Tañada, for his part, pointed out that the Chief Justice cannot argue that the SALN form is defective in the first place as claimed by Senator-judge Vicente Sotto 3rd because it creates confusion with the acquisition cost and fair market value.

Tañada and Angara explained that there is no question about the SALN form having blank spaces for acquisition costs and fair market value prices. They said that the issue is not about fair market value but the acquisition cost of Corona’s properties which he did not fill up.

“The question is not on the SALN form. The law requires that all government employees should have truthful disclosure in their SALN. The form cannot be blamed,” Tañada said. –Benjamin B. Pulta with Gerry Baldo, Daily Tribune