THE family of the late Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona has lauded the decision of the Court of Tax Appeals to dismiss the tax evasion case filed against Corona’s daughter Carla in 2012.
According to Corona’s son Francis, Carla’s lawyers Carlos Villaruz and Rean Balisi of the Esguerra and Blanco Law Offices texted “to tell us that Ate’s [big sister] cases in the CTA have been dismissed!”
“These cases were filed in 2012 by the Bureau of Internal Revenue under [then commissioner] Kim Henares during the Aquino administration, obviously as political harassment against [then] Chief Justice Renato Corona,” his emailed statement read.
The BIR filed cases against Carla, who worked as a licensed physical therapist in the United States before she got married, and who invested her savings wisely, and her husband Jojo, a doctor here in the Philippines, Francis said.
“They have legitimate, tax-paid income, and have nothing to do with politics. I could never understand how the Aquino administration could file cases against innocent, law-abiding citizens like them,” he said.
“Aquino and his cohorts’ game is to file cases left and right, without any evidence or iota of truth,” Corona added.
The former President’s allies and appointees in the courts then “aid and abet them” by granting the prosecution’s requests for subpoenas (for evidence they should already have come to court with) and motions for reconsideration or MRs, “allowing injustice to happen in broad daylight and setting bad precedents for jurisprudence,” Corona asserted.
He lamented that Henares, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, and former justice secretary Leila de Lima, currently a senator, had filed 29 cases against the late Chief Justice and their other family members.
“Of these, 27 cases have been dismissed,” Francis noted. “I’m very happy that Ate Carla’s cases have been dismissed. Now, my sister doesn’t have to worry about cases hanging over her head.”
Carla can now travel out of the country without having to ask permission from the court “and, most importantly, she has peace of mind and can channel the time and energy that were wasted on such ridiculous cases to more productive activities,” his statement read.
He said he is optimistic the tax case of Carla’s husband “will soon be dismissed.”
