"President Aquino’s deputy spokesman Abigail Valte said members of Congress cannot be compelled to submit their SALns for BIR examination since BIR is part of the Executive which is co-equal with Congress as branches of government. That was not the argument that the Palace used against former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona who was head of the Judiciary which is also co-equal with that of the Executive. The Palace instigated its allies in Congress to impeach Corona based partly on allegations that he did not report all of his assets in his yearly SALn. Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares even testified before the Senate impeachment court trying Corona that his SALn bore discrepancies on the value of his declared properties, even extending the BIR probe to members of his family. Corona during the trial surrendered his SALn which became the basis of his conviction and eventual removal from office. ... See More
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 03:55:56 +0000