Lessons of Corona SALNs

All public officers and employees must submit a declaration under oath of their respective statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) on April 30. In accomplishing the SALN, they could learn a lesson or two from arguably the most scrutinized SALN in Philippine history: that of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Corona is on trial in the Senate for, among others, betrayal of public trust arising from his failure to disclose to the public his SALN. Article 11, Section 17 of the 1987 Constitution provides that “a public officer or employee shall, upon assumption of office and as often thereafter as may be required by law, submit a declaration under oath of his assets, liabilities and net worth.”

Clerk of court

The Chief Justice’s SALNs were finally turned over by Supreme Court clerk of court Enriqueta Vidal to the Senate on Jan. 18, the third day of the trial, on orders of senator-judges. That same day, as the trial was ongoing, the high tribunal authorized the release of Corona’s SALNs.

As the documents submitted to the Senate showed, the Chief Justice had been religiously filing the declarations since he was appointed associate justice of the Supreme Court by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2002. He also declared his net worth in the years he was in the executive branch, starting out as President Fidel Ramos’ executive secretary in 1992 and bowing out as Arroyo’s chief of staff in 2002.

Prosecutors from the House of Representatives, however, contended that “failure to disclose” is not merely the failure to file the SALN but submitting incomplete, inaccurate and grossly undervalued entries. Corona, according to the impeachment complaint, committed culpable violation of the Constitution when he excluded some of his properties from his SALN, considered a violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.

Condos, land

Based on Corona’s SALNs and land records submitted by registers of deeds during the trial, Corona apparently has some explaining to do over the following properties: A 631.6-sq m lot in Quezon City he bought in 1995 which was never declared in all his SALNs; a Marikina property—seven parcels of land covered by seven transfer certificates of title—he declared only in his 1992 SALN even when this still belongs to him; a 113.02-sq m condominium in Bonifacio Ridge in Taguig, acquired in 2004, that was not declared until 2010; a 62.7-sq m condo acquired by installment in 1997 but declared only in 2003; and a condominium unit in The Columns in Makati that was not reflected in his 2003-2009 SALN and was belatedly declared in his 2010 filing.

The prosecution is also out to prove that the chief magistrate intentionally left out various bank deposits in his SALNs. The Senate on Monday approved the prosecution’s requests to subpoena certain bank records and bank officials.

True, complete

Executed under oath, the SALN is supposed to be where government officials disclose their true and complete assets and properties here and abroad.

Every year, they must declare their properties, business interests and debts, as well as those of their spouses and children below 18 in the previous year. Relatives who are in government also have to be declared. Spouses may file joint or separate SALN.

Aside from the Constitution, two laws specifically require the filing of SALN.

Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, promulgated in 1960, mandates public officers to file their SALN upon assumption, expiration, resignation or separation from office. The penalty for nonfiling is a fine of P100 to P1,000, imprisonment of not more than a year, or both.

Enacted in 1989, Republic Act No. 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees not only requires public officials and employees to submit their SALN and include those of their spouses and children under 18 living under their roofs but also states that “the public has the right to know” about such.

Revised form

While the deadline for submission of SALN under RA 3019 was January, RA 6713 moved this to April 30. Last July 8, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) released a revised form and guidelines for 2012. See box.

Under RA 6713, the SALN should contain real property, its improvements, acquisition cost, assessed value and current fair market value; personal property and acquisition cost; all other assets such as investments, cash on hand or in banks, stocks, bonds and the like; liabilities, and all business interests and financial connections.

Acquisition cost

A review of Corona’s SALNs shows he has consistently reported the assessed and fair market values of his properties all over Metro Manila and not the amount paid or the actual acquisition cost. Government guidelines allow only inherited or donated properties to be declared at the fair market value.

The amount paid in obtaining the property is acquisition cost, the value stated in the records of the local assessor in the local government where the property is located is called the assessed value, while fair market value is the purchase price a real buyer and real seller can agree on.

Subpoenaed on the prosecution’s request, PSBank president Pascual Garcia on Wednesday presented certifications that showed that one account (089-1201-1957) Corona maintained with the bank at one point held P5.018 million as of end-2007, another  (089-1201-9593) had a balance of P8.5 million as of end-2009 and P12.58 million as of end-2010, and a third (089-1202-1681) contained P7.15 million as of end-2010.

Corona, however, reported only P2.5 million in cash and investments in his 2007 and 2009 SALN, and P3.5 million in his 2010 declarations, way below the nearly P20 million deposits in his two PSBank accounts.

P11-M cash advance

Listed in Corona’s 2003 SALN was an P11-million cash advance from Basa-Guidote Enterprises, a real estate firm owned by his wife Cristina’s family. The advance would appear in his succeeding SALNs up to the time he filed in 2009. Interestingly, the Securities and Exchange Commission revoked the registration of Basa-Guidote Enterprises in 2003, but Corona still listed the company as his wife’s business interest in his SALNs from 2003 to 2009 and stated that her connection with the firm began in 2003.

RA 6713 also states that a civil servant’s relatives in government “to the best of his knowledge and information” should be identified and disclosed. Although Cristina was a director of  John Hay Management Corp. (JHMC) from 2001 to 2009, Corona failed to declare this in his 2001 to 2006 SALNs. He declared his wife’s appointment as chair and president of JHMC only in his 2007 to 2009 SALNs.

Brother

Brother Ruben, who was manager of National Home Mortgage Finance Corp. (NHMC) in 1992 then later its vice president, was also no longer listed in 2006.  The NHMFC website identifies Ruben, a lawyer, as the Technical Service Group vice president.

Filing a supplemental SALN amending declarations has been done in the past to cure lapses. Amid allegations of unexplained wealth, including the purchase of a $1.3-million property in California, then Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo produced in 2009 supplemental SALNs he supposedly filed after he married his cousin Angela in 2002 to show the sudden increase in his assets. But the couple was still charged with tax evasion after the Bureau of Internal Revenue found out they underdeclared their incomes in 2004, 2006 and 2007.

Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares said on Feb. 6 that the BIR was investigating Corona’s net worth following the discrepancies found in his SALN.

The impeachment trial not only highlights the lapses in Corona’s SALNs but also demonstrates the difficulties of accessing the document in the absence of a standard procedure.

Anticorruption tool

The SALN is deemed an anticorruption tool as it is used as basis for lifestyle checks. It is filed in compliance with the government policy of transparency and honesty. Because of the lack of a uniform method in accessing such documents, SALN custodians that include the CSC, Congress, Senate, Office of the Ombudsman, Malacañang and Supreme Court prescribe different steps in accessing SALN.

The Supreme Court, whose highest official is undergoing impeachment trial, releases a SALN only upon the approval of the justices en banc after a letter of request is sent to the clerk of court. In September 1992, a court resolution authorized the court administrator to act on requests for copies of the assets and liabilities only upon a court subpoena signed by the presiding judge in a pending criminal case against a judge or personnel.

Three years earlier, it was decided en banc that requests for the SALNs of justices or judges shall be filed with the Supreme Court clerk of court or the court administrator and must state the purpose.

This procedure prevented the House of Representatives from acquiring copies of Corona’s SALN late last year even as its members voted to impeach him.

In the House, an Aug. 17, 2009 memo issued by the secretary general requires a written request before photocopied or certified true copies of various documents are issued. According to the memo, the written request is “acted upon immediately and expeditiously without discrimination within five to 10 days from receipt.”

When a letter and the request for certified true copy of documents are accomplished and submitted to the secretary general, however, the request is circulated to the offices of concerned representatives. The requested document is released only upon the approval of the concerned individual.  In this case, “acting on the request” means just informing the concerned representative on the request because the secretary general will not release the SALN without the representative’s consent.

Of course, the public can try their luck by requesting a copy directly from the representatives.

In the Senate, the request for SALN is addressed to the chamber’s secretary. Should the request be approved, the requesting party pays P3 per page for photocopy expenses. In Malacañang, a request is made to the director of the records division and verifications are done by calling organizations or groups that made the request.

Accessing SALNs from the Office of the Ombudsman starts with a letter addressed to the Public Assistance Bureau. In 2009, the Ombudsman released a memo restricting SALN access to make sure that the document will not be used for illegal and immoral purposes.

A March 15, 2011 resolution signed by Civil Service Chair Francisco Duque III released a guideline which includes payment of P200 per SALN.  Under the guideline, the requesting party must submit a letter to the director of the Integrated Records Management Office, provide two valid IDs and present an endorsement letter from the organization where the SALN will be used.

Evaluation of the request may require additional documents or information from the requesting party. Should the CSC decide to release the SALN, the requesting party must accomplish an undertaking of requesting party form, which must be notarized. The form binds the requesting party to several agreements, including not using the document “for purposes contrary to morals, public policy or commercial purpose/s.”

Freedom of information

Passing a Freedom of Information (FOI) law would have addressed the absence of a standard and would have speeded up the process of acquiring the SALN and other public documents. An FOI law would also be in keeping with the Bill of Rights of the 1987 Constitution that recognizes the “right of the people to information on matters of public concern.”

Attempts to pass an FOI bill since the 8th Congress have failed.  At present, 11 versions are pending in the House and the Senate. President Aquino recently announced that his version of the proposed FOI law had been submitted to coalition partners in Congress. Malacañang said that his version included mandatory disclosure of SALNs, which will be uploaded to respective websites of agencies.

Lala Ordenes-Cascolan and Artha Kira Paredes, Vera Files (Vera Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for true.)