Senate President: Asset statement issue is simple

MANILA — Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Thursday ended a debate on values of property that Chief Justice Renato Corona declared in his asset statements, saying there was no need to “belabor the point.”

The prosecution has said Corona undervalued the properties in his statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN).
Serafin Cuevas, lead defense counsel, meanwhile said that if Corona had prepared and filed his SALNs based on values provided by city assessors, he cannot be faulted for that. He made clear, however, that he was speaking hypothetically.

He added that values change with time. “If I bought a condominium unit for P10 million three years ago, and now the value is only P1 million and I declare P1 million, is there fraud?” he said.

An assessor from Taguig City on Thursday presented to the Senate impeachment court documents showing the tax declarations of Corona’s high-end condominium units, which were not publicly declared for the years during which they were bought.

Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, whose wife is a mayor in Taguig City, confirmed that local government units set the assessed values of property and that assessed values may change but the acquisition cost should be constant.

Cayetano also asked both sides to explain how they defined “fair market value”, but Senator Panfilo Lacson said there was no problem with the assumed values.

He said what interested him was the basis of the declared acquisition cost.

The prosecution said it should be the amount stated on the deed of sale. This was not about what was not put in the SALNs, but the assessed values, it said.

But Senator Ralph Recto said, “How come the amounts on the deeds of sale were not listed as the acquisition cost?”

Lacson said only Corona himself can explain why this was done.

Cuevas said that if this was done out of negligence, then Corona cannot be faulted either.

“We all know what are assets, what are liabilities, and what is net worth. Let’s not belabor this. Present evidence and proceed with the trial,” Enrile said.

He said there was no question that Corona declared certain properties in his SALNs. He also said it was clear that Corona has been accused of not declaring all his assets.

He said the only thing that the court needs to determine is whether the Chief Justice was remiss in the constitutional requirement to faithfully declare his net worth under oath.

“When you talk of graft and corruption, you talk about acquisition cost versus income,” he said, adding this is not based on “assumed values.”

Senator Francis Escudero, for his part, told both parties to argue in their summations whether failure to list the acquisition cost is a violation of the law.

“When you put lawyers and numbers together, this is what happens,” Cayetano said during the trial. (Jonathan de Santos/Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)