CHIEF Justice Renato Corona yesterday denied that he acquired all his assets and properties through illegal means.

Corona stressed that being a member of the Supreme Court and a Chief Justice at that, he would not make a stupid mistake in hiding ill-gotten wealth.

“In the eyes of the people, if I got all my assets through illegal means, (would I) be careless or stupid enough to put it in my name, my wife’s, my children’s name if such were acquired through illegal means?” Corona said.

“I am an SC justice, and Supreme Court Chief Justice, I think I will not commit such a mistake or stupidity if indeed those were illegally acquired . . . Ano ba naman!” Corona added.

House prosecutors claimed that Corona failed to declare all of his acquired properties in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN). They presented several witnesses attesting to the ownership of some titled properties in Taguig City and Quezon City.

Among those who took the witness stand to provide the documents of Corona’s supposed properties were Sedfrey Garcia of Marikina, Carlo Alcantara of Quezon City, Randy Rutaquio of Taguig, and Constante Caluya Jr. of Makati. The prosecutors claimed that the documents were supposedly for the pieces of property that the prosecution claims Corona had acquired illegally.

Retired Justice Serafin Cuevas, the lead defense counsel, questioned the relevance of the property titles to the article of impeachment.

Meanwhile another petition has been filed before the Supreme Court questioning the legality of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s impeachment.

Petitioners Herman Laurel, columnist of the Daily Tribune and Dyaryo Opinion; Rodolfo Salandanan, a Bataan-based media practitioner; and taxpayer Rufino Martinez stressed the eight articles of impeachment against Corona were void for lack of the requisite verification.

They pointed out that the allegations contained in the impeachment suits must be based on the personal knowledge of Corona’s accusers, otherwise, the articles of impeachment will be violative of Sec. 3 of Article XI of the 1987 Constitution.

The latest petition brought to six the total number of suits questioning the legality of the Corona impeachment.

The other petitioners were tax informer Danilo Lihaylihay, lawyer Vladimir Cabigao, former Integrated Bar of the Philippines president Vicente Millora, lawyer Oliver Lozano, and lawyers Homobono Adaza and Allan Paguia.

Almost all of the petitions claimed that the impeachment complaint was not properly verified by the complainants when forwarded to the Senate.