Senator-judge: Corona should explain SALN

MANILA, Philippines - The defense team of Chief Justice Renato Corona this afternoon presented two more witnesses at the Senate impeachment court to show other sources of income of the chief magistrate.

The defense panel first called to the witness stand, Atty. Irene Guevarra, Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) secretary, who submitted to the Senate court a certification of the allowances, salaries and per diem received by the Chief justice.

Based on the documents, the chief magistrate received P121, 166 monthly when he served as a member of the SET. The certification also showed that Corona received a total of P1,693,333 for 14 months for sitting as SET member.

"He was the third justice member of the tribunal. He did not become chairman of senate electoral tribunal," Guevarra said.

She added that the Chief Justice received a total P280,000 in allowances and per diem in March 2008. The high magistrate was getting P20,000 allowance, according to Guevarra.

During a brief cross examination by the prosecution panel, the SET secretary said that the same with the procedure in the Supreme Court, the Chief justice would merely submit a certification in the payroll.

"We did not consider it as income. As a matter of fact we don't withhold taxes from it," Guevarra said, referring to the allowances and per diem.

After Guevarra, the defense panel then presented Atty. Girlie Salarda, House Representavies Electoral Tribunal (HRET) secretary.

Salarda also submitted certifications showing that the Chief justice received a total of P3,580,800 for his 26 months of serving as member and later a chairman of the HRET.

The documents revealed that from Jan. 2, 2007 to April 2009, the chief justice served as member of the HRET.

From 2009 to 2010, the chief magistrate sat as chairman of HRET, the certifications showed.

Earlier, Arceli Bayuga, SC chief of cash collection and disbursement division, said that the chief justice earned more than P21 million since 2002 up to 2011.

Senator-Judge Antonio Trillanes IV, meanwhile, said in a television interview after the adjournment of the trial that the defense has not presented anything to explain the underdeclaration and non-disclosure of assets by Corona in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

Trillanes said that he is still looking forward to seeing the defense team or Corona opening records of his dollar deposits before the impeachment court to explain the discrepancy in his SALN.

In a press conference, the House prosecution team said that the defense lawyers of the chief justice are trying to deceive the senator-judges by presenting witnesses on the actual salary and cash perks received by Corona from 2002.

The prosecution team said that if miscellaneous finances of the chief justices would be taken into account, the more than P21 million he earned from 2002 would not be enough to reconcile the discrepancy in his SALN.