Sandigan dismissal vindication for Corona — family

The family of the late Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona said Friday the Sandinbayan's dismissal of the case forfeiting P130 million worth of his assets vindicates them.

"It is a vindication for Chief Justice Renato Corona. May his soul find eternal rest," the family said in a statement.

The family also said the decision was "true" and "just."

"It has been 11 years since the impeachment, which brought about the many cases the Aquino administration filed against my Dad, my husband, myself, and eventually the rest of my family," Carla Corona Castillo, daughter of the late chief justice, said.

Castillo recalled enduring the hardship of facing all the cases head-on and believing that those were only filed against his father because he stood firm, upheld the rule of law and did his duty to provide justice to the farmers of Hacienda Luisita.

"One by one, those cases were dismissed through the years. This was the last. Once again, truth and justice prevailed," Castillo said.

The case filed by the Office of the Ombudsman in 2014 stemmed from Corona's failure to declare several cash assets and properties in his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth or SALN.

However, in the anti-graft court's 48-page decision promulgated on Thursday and penned by Associate Justice Arthur Malabaguio of the Sandiganbayan's Second Division, it said Corona's at least P134 million bank deposits, including dollar accounts, as well as his real estate properties worth P17.5 million, were all legally acquired.

The ruling also stated that Corona's non-declaration in his SALNs was later rectified.

While the former chief justice may have been "negligent" and "careless" in filing his SALNs, the Ombudsman's prosecution team still failed to prove that former chief magistrate's assets were obtained illegally, according to the decision.

This is especially true given that Corona's heirs, his wife, Cristina, and their three children, were able to provide sufficient documentation to present the source of their family's wealth.

"Wherefore, premises considered, the instant Amended Petition for Forfeiture under Republic Act No. 1379, filed by petitioner Republic of the Philippines, represented by the Office of the Ombudsman, against respondents Renato C. Corona, now represented by his heirs, Ma. Carla Beatrice C. Castillo, Francis R. Corona, and Charina C. Salgado, and Cristina R. Corona, and their dummies, trustees, assignees, transferees, and successors-in-interest, is hereby dismissed," the decision read.

Corona was appointed as an associate justice by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on 9 April 2002 and then as Chief Justice on 12 May 2010, following the retirement of Chief Justice Reynato Puno.

In May 2012, the Senate impeachment court ousted him from his position after two years in office.

Corona was also facing impeachment and several tax evasion cases before he passed away in April 2016.