Simple arithmetic, pattern of ‘omission’

Here’s a quick arithmetic lesson that can be answered by, say, a second grader: What’s the difference between P80 million and P22 million?

Answer by a normal second grader: P58 million.

Answer by Chief Justice Renato Corona: Zero.

The P80 million is what the impeached Chief Justice should have declared in his most recent statement of assets, liabilities and net worth, according to prosecutors. But Corona declared only P22 million, or just one-fourth of the value of his various real estate properties and fat bank accounts.

I believe Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara when he said that Corona knew his dollar accounts were too big to be justified by his income and allowances, as well as by the money owned by his wife in Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc. This is the reason he ran to his confreres in the Supreme Court to prevent the senator-judges from prying into his foreign currency deposits.

Corona not only declared less than a quarter of his actual net worth, he also failed to declare his assets and bank accounts at the year of their acquisition or opening.

The senator-judges should ask Corona a valid question: Why did he deliberately fail to fill up the acquisition cost in all of his SALNs? Was it because it would reveal that he had amassed wealth far beyond his salary and allowances as Chief Justice?

—PIA AMBO,

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