By LALA ORDENES
CHIEF Justice Renato Corona, impeached for failure to disclose to the public his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), among others, has three condominium units and three other real properties in Marikina, Taguig and Quezon City registered to him, his wife Ma. Cristina, and to both of them as co-owners.
Of these, the chief magistrate failed to declare a 631.6-sq. m. lot in Quezon City he bought in 1995; a Marikina property—seven parcels of land covered by seven TCTs—was declared in his 1992 SALN and was no longer mentioned since; and a 113.02-sq. m. condominium in Bonifacio Ridge in Taguig, acquired in 2004, was not declared until 2010. A 62.7-sq. m. condo, acquired by installment in 1997, was declared only in 2003.
The titles to the properties were submitted on Thursday by the registers of deeds of the three cities to the Senate in compliance with the subpoena issued by the chamber, which is sitting as impeachment court and trying Corona on allegations of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, and graft and corruption.
Three other properties owned by the chief justice’s daughters were also presented in court, two in the name of “Constantino Castillo III, married to Ma. Carla C. Castillo,” and one in the name of Charina Corona.
In declaring the value of his properties in his SALN, Corona had consistently reported only their assessed and fair market values, and not the amount he paid for the properties, or the actual acquisition cost. But government guidelines allow that a property acquired at no cost, through donation or inheritance for example, be declared at the fair market value.
Acquisition cost is the amount paid in obtaining the property. Assessed value is the value stated in the records of the local assessor in the local government unit where the property is located. Fair market value is the purchase price a real buyer and real seller can agree on.
In at least three separate instances, there were huge gaps between the fair market value as declared in the chief justice’s SALN as against the acquisition cost reflected in the deed of sale. One is the La Vista property which his wife bought for P11 million, but was declared in his SALN as having a fair market value of P3 million and which was later sold to their eldest daughter for P18 million. Another is the Bonifacio Ridge condo which was bought for P9,159,940 but declared as having a fair market value of P2,369,980.
The properties registered to Corona and his wife, Ma. Cristina, are the following:
A 513.8-sq. m. lot in Diliman, declared acquired by donation in 1971 while Corona was still a law student. Corona declared it in his 1992 to 2002 SALN with an assessed value of P52,410 and fair market value of P5,138,000.
A house was constructed on the lot in 1976. The house had an assessed value of P16,870 and fair market value of P2 million as declared in his 1992 to 2002 SALN.
In 2003, Corona began declaring the house and lot as one entry with an assessed value of P337,820 and P7,138,000 fair market value. The values remained unchanged up to his 2010 SALN. This property is believed to be the Corona’s declared primary place of residence, located in Xavierville, Quezon City.
In 1980, seven parcels of land in Marikina Heights covered by TCTs N-97119 to N-97125 were acquired by the Coronas through donation. The lands were titled in 1984 to “Ma. Cristina R. Corona, married to Renato Corona” and was declared in the chief justice’s 1992 SALN with an assessed value of P50,000 and a fair market value of P2 million. Corona has since stopped declaring the same in his SALN.
The couple also acquired a 460-sq. m. lot in Matandang Balara in 1992. It was titled to the “Spouses Renato Corona and Cristina Corona” in 1993, the year the chief justice started declaring it in his SALN with an assessed value of P30,000 and fair market value of P3 million. It remained the same in his 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 2002 SALN. The entry changed in his 2003 SALN, when he changed the mode of acquisition from “purchase” to “installment.” He also changed the assessed value to P172,500, while the fair market value remained consistent at P3 million.
This property no longer appears in his 2010 SALN. The Coronas sold the same to Rhodel Rivera for P8 million in 2010.
Two years later, in 1995, a parcel of land measuring 631.6-sq. m. was titled to “Renato Corona, married to Cristina Corona.” It was an adjacent lot (Lot 6A) to the Corona’s primary residence (Lot 6B) in Xavierville. Together, Lots 6A and 6B measure 1145.4-sq. m. Lot 6A does not appear in any of Corona’s SALN.
In 2003, Corona’s SALN started reflecting a condominium unit supposedly acquired by installment in 1997. In his 2004 SALN, an asterisk next to the condo entry reads: “title transferred only upon full payment in 2003.” The declared assessed value was P276,320 while the fair market value was P921,080. It is not clear if this refers to the 62.70-sq. m. condominium unit in One Burgundy Plaza located in Katipunan owned by the spouses. The deed of sale for the unit dated October 2003 states that receipt was received in full by Burgundy Realty Corp. from the Coronas for P2.758 million.
Neither was the Burgundy condo declared in the SALN under “liabilities.” Although, his 2001 and February 5, 2002 SALN reflect a liability of P1 million “various loans,” the same no longer appears in his 2002 SALN as of December of that year.
It was also in 2003 that the Coronas bought their most expensive real estate purchase thus far: a 1,200-sq. m. property in La Vista for P11 million titled to “Ma. Cristina Corona, married to Renato Corona.” The chief justice started declaring it in his 2003 SALN with an assessed value of P450,000 and fair market value of P3 million.
The La Vista property was subsequently sold in 2010 to the Corona’s eldest daughter Ma. Carla for P18 million.
In 2004, Cristina bought a condo unit at the Spanish Bay Tower in Bonifacio Ridge. The condo is 113.02-sq. m. It was titled to “Cristina Corona, married to Renato Corona” in 2005, but was not declared in the chief justice’s SALN until 2010 where it came with an explanation that “we sold two parcels of land in Q.C. to purchase/pay the loans for condo units (4) and (5).” Condo (4) supposedly refers to the Bonifacio Ridge condo, which he declared to have an assessed value of P1,421,990 and fair market value of P2,369,980. The purchase price of the unit was P9,159,940.
The chief justice declared this to have been bought in installment in his 2010 SALN. The deed of absolute sale, however, states in Annex C that the purchase price of P9,159,940 “is acknowledged by the seller to have been received by it in full as of the date of the Deed of the Absolute Sale” or on November 29, 2005.
Condo (5) refers to the last registered purchase of the Coronas: the 303.5-sq. m. condo unit at the posh Bellagio at the Fort. Bought in 2010, the Coronas bought three parking spaces to go with the unit. It is declared to have been acquired by installment, with an assessed value of P3,496,320 and fair market value of P6,800,000.
The two parcels of land in Quezon City, which Corona said in 2010 SALN he sold to pay for the two Taguig condos, apparently refer to the Matandang Balara property which was sold for P8 million and the La Vista property which was sold for P18 million.
Three other TCTs were presented Thursday in the impeachment trial. These include the TCT for a 203-sq. m. property at the McKinley Hill Village in Fort Bonifacio in the name of Charina Corona, the chief justice’s younger daughter. At the time the property was bought, Charina was 34 and single, according to the records.
Two other TCTs were in the name of “Constantino Castillo III, married to Ma. Carla C. Castillo,” the Coronas’ elder daughter. One was a 350-sq. m. house and lot in Project 3 bought for P10.5 million in 2003. The other was an 819-sq. m. property on Kalayaan Avenue bought for P15 million in 2009. These are on top of the La Vista property that the chief justice and his wife Cristina subsequently sold to Ma. Carla in 2010 for P18 million.
The TCTs were presented by the prosecution as part of its presentation of evidence under Article 2 of the impeachment complaint which accuses the chief justice of betraying public trust and violating the Constitution for failure to disclose his SALN.
The prosecution also tried to establish that some of the properties were acquired through ill-gotten wealth, a move the defense lawyers objected to saying the chief justice is not on trial for ill-gotten wealth and trying him for the same is a violation of his constitutional right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him.