Prosecutors, Renato Corona and his family amassed some 40 properties
in the last 9 years he was in the court, House prosecutors claimed on
Thursday.
Impeachment spokesman Miro Quimbo said that based on records from the
Land Registration Authority, Corona and his family have 45 properties,
houses and condo units, mostly in Corona's name, with others in his
wife's, children's and in-laws.
Quimbo said that based on Corona's last available statement of assets,
liabilities and net worth (SALN) in 2002, only 5 of the 45 are
registered.
"The question we want to raise there is - when the Chief Justice filed
his last SALN in 2002, his net worth was at P13.9 million...The bulk
of these properties have not been identified or included in his SALN
of 2002. If he was being honest in his SALN, then he acquired these
properties after he became a justice of the Supreme Court in 2002,"
Quimbo said in an ANC interview.
Quimbo said the properties are material to their accusation that the
Chief Justice acquired ill-gotten wealth when he joined the Court in
2002.
"There is a property that is in his name. It is not even in the name
of a corporation or anybody else but it is in his name or the name of
his children, which apparently cannot be supported by his
income...There [are] a lot of questions raised as to how or whether
the salary of a justice of the Supreme Court can actually buy all
these properties over a 9-year period," he said.
The properties are spread out in Makati (1), Paranaque and Pasay (1),
Marikina (8), Taguig (12), and Quezon City, (23).
Fourteen of the Corona properties are condominium units while the rest
are houses.
The information on the Coronas' properties is contained in the request
filed by the House prosecutors today to subpoena the Coronas as well
as the documents related to the properties.
