SENATOR-JUDGE Gregorio Honasan has asked the spokesmen of all the parties involved in the impeachment trial to “moderate their public pronouncements and statements” because of concerns that the some are already engaged in trial by publicity.

Honasan said that while the impeachment court does not want to restrict the flow of information to the public, the two opposing sides have already been discussing the merits of the case in public.

“The trial outside the courtroom is already proceeding faster than inside the courtroom,” Honasan said. “It should be the other way around.”

“The verdicts are already being rendered in the hearts and minds of our people,” Honasan cautioned.

SENATOR-JUDGE Joker Arroyo voiced his apprehension over the multiple investigations being conducted against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Arroyo asked Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares if it was true that the BIR had already launched its own investigation into the income tax records of Corona.

Henares said the BIR was doing an investigation through the net worth method to determine if Corona had generated income for which he had not paid taxes.

Arroyo said he was concerned that the government would look like it was mustering all its forces to get Corona.

“Can you not have waited,” Arroyo asked Henares. “We don’t want the public to think that the forces of government are being used (to go after the Chief Justice.)

Arroyo pointed out that Corona had already been impeached by the House of Representatives, and was now being tried by the impeachment court in the Senate. “Then, the BIR is also conducting its own investigation,” Arroyo said.

INTERNAL REVENUE COMMISSIONER Kim Henares said there was no proper payment of taxes by the wife of  Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona for some of the other income she earned as an official of the John Hay Management Corporation.

Henares said “there was a problem” with the tax records of Cristina Corona. Henares said “there was no proper withholding of taxes” from Cristina Corona.

“Aside from her compensation, she also had a director’s fee,” Henares told the impeachment court. “She should have filed an income tax return.”

In her book “Shadow of Doubt,” journalist Marites Vitug said Cristina Corona held multiple positions at the John Hay Management Corporation, including that of chairperson, president, chief executive officer, and chief operating officer. In addition, she was also appointed as a member of the board of directors of the corporation.

INTERNAL REVENUE Commissioner Kim Henares today told the impeachment court that not all earnings are necessarily reflected in the income tax returns that taxpayers file every year.

Responding to queries from Senator Francis Escudero on whether the income tax return is the only record of earnings, Henares said that some earnings are recorded or reported in other documents.

These examples include capital gains tax from the sale of real properties; final tax such as interest earned from bank deposits; and stock transaction taxes. In cases like these, Henares said, the earnings are not reflected in the ITR.

For example, interests in bank deposits are documented by the bank itself, and submitted to the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The same goes for the stock transaction tax, which is not listed in a taxpayer’s ITR.

The issue was raised after prosecutors said the tax records of the family of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona do not jive with the statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth that the Chief Justice submits every year.

Aren’t Income Tax Returns supposed to be sacrosanct?

How did documents being presented in the Impeachment Trial reach the media even before they were formally offered as evidence?

Is it a public trial in a peoples’ court, or is it going the way of trial by publicity?

Senator-judges tackled these very questions even before Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares could continue with her testimony on the income declarations of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona and his wife.

Senator-Judge Joker Arroyo first raised the issue of sanctity and inviolability of income tax returns when he asked Henares where she got the authority to present the ITRs.

Senator-Judge Pia Cayetano then raised the issue of documents being leaked out to media even while they were being marked and not yet offered as evidence in court.

Lead Prosecution Counsel Neil Tupas told the impeachment court that they are not leaking any evidence to the media. The Defense panel likewise said they are not responsible for any ‘leaks’.

Senate Presiding Judge Juan Ponce Enrile cautioned both panels that while the exercise is open to the public via live television, they must be careful about letting media get hold of and subsequently strut any evidence or discuss the merits of the case while the trial is in progress.

TEN minutes into Day 7 of the Corona Impeachment trial, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago lashed out at prosecution lawyer Arthur Lim failure to give prompt, direct answers to a crucial question she raised: Is the prosecution “charging the respondent with graft and corruption under Impeachment Article II”.

Instead of giving a plain yes or no, which the Senator-Judge had expected him to do, Lim began his answer with the phrase “Let me point out…”, which sent Defensor-Santiago shooting her famous (or infamous) verbal tirades at the prosecution counsel.

Santiago warned Lim that she would ask her colleagues to inhibit the later from further appearing in the trial proceedings if he “continued with such colloquy”.

PROSECUTION LAWYERS tried to pin down Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona based on how he and his wife Cristina could have purchased an P11 million property in La Vista subdivision when the couple had reported no other source of income other than Corona’s salary as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

Prosecution lawyer Arthur Lim asked Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares when Cristina Corona became a taxpayer. Henares said Cristina Corona only acquired a Tax Identification Number or TIN in 2003, when she applied for a one-time TIN for the purchase of an P11 million lot in La Vista.

This, Henares said, means that Cristina Corona did not, on record, report any legal income prior to 2003.

In this case, Lim said, how could the couple have afforded the purchase of the La Vista property. “A taxpayer without income buying property worth P 11 million?” Lim said. “What is your position on this,” Lim asked Henares.

Henares failed to directly answer the question, saying she was only made aware of these details last Friday, January 20.