Pattern of undervaluation

The statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) that every government official and employee is required to file yearly looks simple enough. Section A is a listing of assets (real properties, and personal and other properties), liabilities (loans, mortgages, etc.) and net worth (the difference between assets and liabilities). Section B pertains to the business interests and financial connections of the official or employee. Section C is a list of relatives working in the government. Filling it up faithfully, however, is not as easy as it looks.

Most problematic is estimating the current fair market value of real properties. To do this with some degree of accuracy, one should either hire an appraiser (which can be expensive) or survey the neighborhood and find out the prices of properties similar to one’s own (a difficult exercise).

Assigning a price to a condominium unit is a lot easier. With high rises sprouting all over the metropolis, all one needs to do is pick up the phone and ask a broker or chat with sales agents who can be found in every mall. They can quote the prices of condos of all sizes in almost any place in Metro Manila.

Thus, it is very curious that impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona would report in his SALN four condominiums at prices any buyer would consider a steal. That 300-sq m penthouse suite at The Bellagio in Bonifacio Global City, for instance, can fetch as much as P30 million today. Corona put its price at only P6.8 million in his 2010 SALN.

If he had the mind to, he didn’t need to look far to realize that that amount was unrealistically low. The certificate authorizing registration (CAR) of the Bellagio penthouse puts its value at P14.5 million, twice the amount he declared as its current fair market value.

What emerges from Corona’s SALN declarations is a pattern of undervaluation of assets. Another condo at Bonifacio Global City bought in the name of Corona’s wife Cristina in 2008 was listed as worth P2,369,980 in Corona’s SALN. In the CAR issued in 2008, its value was P9,159,940. A third condo unit in the Columns in Makati also owned by Cristina was reported to be worth P1.21 million in Corona’s SALN, but valued at P3,588,931 in the CAR issued in 2004. A fourth condo unit in Burgundy Plaza in Quezon City reported by Corona to be worth P921,000 was valued at P2.5 million in the CAR issued in 2003.

Just as curious as the wide divergence in the valuations of his real properties in official documents is that Corona was reporting only one condo unit up to 2009. The number rose to four only in his 2010 SALN, and yet his wife bought one in 2004 and a third one in 2008. Maybe the Chief Justice is just as ignorant of the law as many ordinary government employees who leave out from the SALN properties owned by their spouses, in the honest but erroneous belief that since they are not in government, reporting their assets is not required. If ignorance excuses no one, what about the highest magistrate of the land?

There are other items in Corona’s SALNs that cry out for explanations. For one thing, Corona reported that he took out an P11-million cash advance in 2003 from a corporation owned by his wife’s family. He carried this liability (in diminishing amounts) until 2009 when it was down to P3 million. The funny thing is that the corporation, Basa-Guidote Enterprises, was dissolved in 2003. A relative of his wife is asking who approved the loan. And who received the payments since the firm was no more?

During all those years that the Coronas were paying off the loan and acquiring condominiums, Corona was earning not more than P620,000 per annum. His wife was unemployed until 2007 when she was appointed to the board of John Hay Management Corp. Their combined income from 2006 to 2010, based on their tax records, was about P14.35 million. Take away taxes, living expenses and loan payment, and there would be hardly any money left to amortize the condos they bought on installment.

Corona said in his 2010 SALN that they sold two lots to pay off the loans on the Taguig condos. There are records showing they sold those lots for a total of P26 million in 2010. However, Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares said in her testimony on Thursday that the sale of the La Vista lot worth P18 million to Corona’s daughter was fictitious, since the daughter didn’t have the capacity to buy such an expensive property.

Corona’s lawyers say everything will be explained in due time. The nation waits with bated breath.