Defense lawyers say CJ not hiding property acquisition cost

MANILA, Philippines - Was Chief Justice Renato Corona trying to hide something by not declaring the acquisition cost of his properties in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs)?

The defense panel in the impeachment trial of Corona said this is not the case and that, as far as the Chief Justice is concerned, he was truthful in the declaration of his properties in his SALNs.

Lawyer Ramon Esguerra, a member of the defense panel, refuted the claims of their counterparts from the prosecution that the Chief Justice deliberately concealed the acquisition cost for his declared properties because his salary could not justify these.

“There is no concealment because the acquisition cost was made public with the deeds of absolute sale (issued for the properties),” Esguerra said.

Esguerra said that the deeds of sale for the five properties declared by the Chief Justice were already submitted by the prosecution as evidence to the impeachment court.

He pointed out that the acquisition cost for the properties are contained in those deeds of transfer and are readily available and accessible to everyone.

“The acquisition costs are in the deeds of transfer, conveyance and these are part of public records. The BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue), for purposes of paying the capital gains tax and the registers of deeds, will not issue TCTs (transfer certificate of title) without the deeds of transfer. There can be no charge of concealment,” Esguerra said.

The 30th day of the impeachment trial of the Chief Justice focused on the real property entries of Corona in his SALNs from 2002 to 2010, specifically on the absence of any amounts in the acquisition cost columns.

According to the prosecution, it was necessary to disclose the acquisition cost for properties, on top of the assessed values and current fair market values, to determine how much these properties are actually worth.

Esguerra argued that the certification in the SALN form requires the public official to provide a true statement of his assets and liabilities and “not the true statement of my acquisition cost.”

“There is no such requirement. The law, even the Constitution, does not say that it must strictly be based on acquisition cost,” Esguerra said.