inside Philippine politics and beyond
My exclusive By Raïssa Robles Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay presented an interesting proposition to one of his godsons. Magsaysay had heard that the Spanish owners of Compañía General de Tabacos de Filipinasa or Tabacalera wanted to sell off their remaining asset in Tarlac – the sugar estate Hacienda Luisita which consisted of a sugar mill called the Central Azucarera de [...]
Analysis By Raïssa Robles McKinley Hill in The Fort looks like a slice of California. It is therefore understandable that someone like Charina Corona, who has lived for nearly a decade in the United States, would want a unit here. In fact she holds the title to one of the units. How Charina came to hold the title is quite interesting. [...]
A Plaza Miranda Exclusive By Raïssa Robles Soon after Chief Justice Renato Corona categorically denied that he and his family owned any property in the United States, a California lawyer sent me documentary evidence showing the purchase of a house in Roseville, California by the chief magistrate’s youngest daughter, Charina. This purchase was made 22 days before she allegedly bought [...]
My exclusive By Raïssa Robles Early this year before the impeachment trial began, intermediaries of Chief Justice Renato Corona reportedly told the presidential palace that Corona would be willing to step down provided two conditions were met. First, he would stay on as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. And second, he would get to name his successor. One [...]
My exclusive By Raïssa Robles Four and not just three senator-judges were sworn into office by no less than Chief Justice Renato Corona, the very man they recently swore to convict or acquit in a fair impeachment trial. [UPDATE: Senator-judge Juan Ponce Enrile, presiding officer of the Impeachment Court, also took his oath of office before CJ Corona. That makes [...]
By Raïssa Robles Chief Justice Renato Corona’s lawyers would like the public to believe that the under declarations and omissions in his SALNs (Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth) are all “not intentional”. What the lawyers aren’t saying is that CJ Corona was a tax and corporate lawyer who once worked for two banks and for SGV & [...]
By Raïssa Robles This Year 2012, or the Year of the Black Water Dragon, one Chinese horoscope predicts that “something unexpected will happen.” That’s putting it mildly if applied to rapidly unfolding political events in the country. Long before the dragon sets foot on the celestial plain this February 4, two events have already occurred that would affect the [...]
My exclusive By Raïssa Robles Chief Justice Renato Corona was required by the SALN law to disclose starting 2003 that his wife sat on the board of a state-owned corporation, former Civil Service Commission chair Karina David told me in an interview. David was chair of the Civil Service Commission when Cristina Corona first joined the board of John [...]
My Exclusive By Raïssa Robles According to a Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) he filed in 2003, Chief Justice Renato Corona got what he described as a “cash advance” of P11 million pesos from a company he identified as his “wife’s family corporation”. What he didn’t say in his SALN was that the lender company had [...]
Read the SC expenses rejected by the WB My Exclusive by Raissa Robles Last Monday January 16, Chief Justice Renato Corona denounced as “a huge lie” a leaked World Bank report stating that the WB had rejected the charging of plane fares, dinners, hotel expenses incurred under CJ Corona’s watch. These expenses amounting to US$199,900 were charged against a [...]
My exclusive By Raïssa Robles When Senator Antonio Trillanes was in detention for a capital crime, he was banned from using the Internet and mobile phone by a regional trial court judge. Trillanes appealed the ban but the government of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo successfully blocked this, as well as his request to physically attend Senate sessions. That was [...]