One lucky guy

Renato Corona must be one very lucky guy. First (in the order in which the public got to know about it) Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo sneaked him into the highest post in the country’s highest court well past the day and hour when the Constitution allows an outgoing president to make such appointments. Then the University of Santo Tomas thrust into his hands a doctoral diploma—after setting aside its own centuries(?)-old rule requiring candidates to write and publish a dissertation—with the highest Latin honors to boot, again ignoring another rule that no doctoral student can graduate with honors unless he or she completes all the requirements for the degree within a period of seven years. Now it appears that Corona got to own not one, not two, but three condominium units in places catering to the very rich in Taguig and Makati, plus a house and lot somewhere in Quezon City—all during the last few years, according to some members of the House of Representatives who are part of the prosecution panel in the impeachment trial of the Chief Justice

There are very few details known so far about the house and lot and two of the condominium units, except that one unit is located in Makati and the other is in Bonifacio Ridge, an upscale condominium overlooking the Manila Golf Course in Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig. But what is known about Corona’s third condo unit also in BGC is enough to raise eyebrows as well as some very interesting questions. Documents released to the media by the prosecution panel showed that Corona and his wife acquired for P14.51 million a 303.5-square meter penthouse suite and three parking slots at the posh The Bellagio in December 2009. Its developer describes The Bellagio as “a stylish home nestled at the edge of the majestic Manila Golf Course.” Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., head of the prosecution panel, said they suspect that this property was not reported in Corona’s statement of assets, liability and net worth (SALN) and that its price was “beyond his income as a public official.”

In his reply to the impeachment complaint, Corona admitted that he and his wife “purchased on installment a 300-sq. m. apartment in Taguig.” But he “flatly denied” that he had accumulated ill-gotten wealth.

Here are two important questions Corona has to answer, now to a curious public or later before the Senate sitting as an impeachment court. First, about the acquisition cost of The Bellagio penthouse suite. Some people who bought units in The Bellagio say they paid P82,000 per sq. m. when the building was still under construction in 2006. At that price, Corona’s penthouse suite (not a modest “apartment”) would have cost almost P25 million. Add the price of three car slots which should be about P2 million, and the total “pre-selling” cost should come up to P27 million. So how did Corona manage to get a very generous 47-percent discount? Was it through some hard bargaining or for other considerations?

Second, there is the matter of how he paid for the penthouse suite. If Corona made a 20-percent downpayment on the recorded acquisition cost of  P14.51 million and paid the rest over a period of five years at the prevailing interest rate of 8.5 percent, then his monthly amortization would have amounted to P277,000. At the time he bought the property Corona was not yet the chief justice. The highest salary he received as an associate justice of the Supreme Court until 2010 was P48,917 monthly. Where did he get the extra P228,000 to cover his monthly amortization?

Corona, who has been in the government service for the last 20 years—almost 12 years in the Supreme Court—said he “acquired his assets from legitimate sources of income, mostly from his professional toils.” But how much time can a justice of the Supreme Court spare to engage in  “professional toils” other than deciding cases? Are such extra toils even allowed?

Of course, Corona could be a man of independent means, but if such is the case his SALN should show it. The problem is, he refuses to make his SALN public, hiding behind a Supreme Court ruling exempting members of the judiciary from the constitutional mandate supposedly in order to protect them against “fishing expeditions” by litigants or their lawyers plotting blackmail against them. But in this case it is Corona who is on the dock and the prosecutors don’t need to go on a fishing expedition anymore. It looks like they have found one big rotten fish.