Coronas and Basas hug
during impeachment break

Video from government television NBN-4

IMPEACHED Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, his wife Cristina Corona, and members of the Basa family hugged and kissed during a break in the impeachment trial Wednesday afternoon, signalling what could be a reconciliation between the two warring clans.

Cristina Corona was seen approaching members of the Basa clan in the VIP section of the Senate session hall as the senator-judges remained huddled in a caucus in another room.

Government television station NBN-4, in its live feed from the senate camera pool, showed Mrs. Corona hugging and kissing members of the Basa clan while weeping and crying. Mrs. Corona was shown hugging and talking to her cousins Ana and Carmen Basa, in what appeared to be their first civil interaction in several decades.

After a few minutes, Corona himself stood up from the witness seat and hugged and kissed the Basas as well.

The Basas and Coronas had been engaged in a family feud over real properties for two decades now. The Basas, who are offspring of Cristina’s uncle Jose Basa III, claim that the Coronas had abused their positions in government to wrest control of Basa Guidote Enterprises.

For his part, impeached Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, in his opening statement Tuesday, accused his wife’s uncle Jose Basa III of virtually swindling his wife’s side of the family of her share of a two and a half hectare property in Libis, Quezon City. In fact, Corona said this family feud was the main reason for his decision to invest, not in real properties, but in dollar deposits.