By YVONNE T. CHUA
PSBANK President Pascual Garcia III submitted to the Senate on Wednesday certifications showing deposits in three bank accounts of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona that apparently were not fully disclosed in his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.
Subpoenaed on the prosecution’s request, Garcia testified that one account (089-1201-1957) Corona maintained with the bank at one point held P5.018 million as of end-2007, another (089-1201-9593) had a balance of P8.5 million as of end-2009 and P12.58 million as of end-2010, and a third (089-1202-1681) contained P7.148 million as of end-2010.
The chief justice, however, reported only P2.5 million in cash and investments in his 2007 SALN, which is only half the P5.018 million he had in one of his PSBank account that year. The account was closed in 2008, according to the bank official.
He also declared having P2.5 million in cash and investments in 2009 when the certification presented by Garcia showed he had P8.5 million in another account.
Although he declared P3.5 million in his 2010 statement, this was way below the nearly combined P20 million deposits in his two PSBank accounts.
Garcia said Corona also opened and closed two accounts in 2009: 089-1202-0122 and 089-1201-7358.
Impeached by the House of Representatives in December, the chief justice is being tried by the Senate on charges of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust and graft and corruption listed in eight articles of impeachment.
Article 2 accused him of failure to disclose to the public his SALNs and raises suspicions of ill-gotten wealth.
Earlier, the prosecution, through subpoenas approved by the senator-judges, was able to compel the Supreme Court clerk of court to submit Corona’s SALNs since his appointment to the High Tribunal.
The registers of deeds from Taguig, Marikina and Quezon City who were summoned by the court also turned over titles to real properties Corona, his wife and daughters owned. Revenue Commissioner
Kim Henares also testified on the taxes paid on these properties, during which she said the Bureau of Internal Revenue has launched an investigation on Corona’s net worth after detecting discrepancies in his SALN filings.
Reacting to the charges, Corona had said before the trial began on Jan. 18, “If you can find (the properties), you can have them.”
Garcia’s appearance in court was in response to a subpoena issued by the Senate who on Monday approved in a resolution the prosecution’s requests to subpoena certain bank accounts and bank officials.
But he presented certifications on only five of the 10 accounts covered by the subpoena. He refused to divulge Corona’s dollar deposits and was ordered by the Senate to submit a written explanation when the session resumes Thursday afternoon.
2007 SALN ENTRY
2009 SALN ENTRY
2010 SALN ENTRY
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