Corona knew what he was doing in filing his SALNs!

Raissa Robles' latest article
Corona’s “not intentional” mistakes in his SALNs

The above article is again an eye-opener, and describe the educational and previous work/employment background of the Chief Justice Renato Corona:

1. Corona has an MBA degree from Ateneo de Manila University, and Master of Laws degree from Harvard, and a PhD degree(without dissertation) from the University of Santo Tomas.
   
   
2. Corona wrote on tax and commercial law issues for his column “Tax Corner” in the Manila Chronicle many years back!
   
   
3. His work experiences:
   
   1. Worked as a lawyer for the Development Bank of the Philippines.
      
      
   2. Worked as senior vice-president and general counsel of the Commercial Bank of Manila.
      
      
   3. Worked as a senior officer of the Tax and Corporate Counseling Group of the Tax Division of Sycip Gorres and Velayo (SGV & Co).
      

Raissa reminds us that

One can safely assume that CJ Corona knows what the word “cash advance” means. He knows all about and can distinguish the assessed value, fair market value and the acquisition cost of real properties. He knows all about the life and death of corporations. In fact, the proof of his knowledge on these subjects stare us right in the face. He was the ponente or the magistrate who penned that very thorough ruling on why the Marcos wealth was both ill-gotten and unexplained. That particular ruling demonstrated CJ Corona’s absolute mastery of the SALN and income tax returns (ITRs).

And Raissa let us also hear again the words of a speech of Chief Justice Corona:

The fact remains that at the heart of our sovereign mandate is the people’s trust in the courts. The people’s trust, however, is not confined to physical infrastructure. Improving human infrastructure is essential in maintaining integrity which in the final analysis gives us the right to judge. Hence, corruption in the judiciary, whether real or perceived, is particularly insidious and reprehensible.

A corrupt judiciary is totally unacceptable as it severely handicaps the legal and institutional mechanism designed to curb abuses in government. As such we shall continuously cleanse the court’s ranks by strengthening the integrity of the judiciary and raising it to the highest level possible. I believe that a member of the judiciary who is found guilty of dishonesty should not only be dismissed from the service but also disbarred. No ifs, no buts.

So any discrepancies of filing his SALNs and ITRs were intentional! The Prosecution should be prepared to use this knowledge of the background of Corona, including his speeches when discussing the SALNs next time.

Let Corona be hoisted in his own petard of public legal pronouncements and knowledge of financial matters, including taxes and SALNs.