Megaworld mum on penthouse allegedly owned by Corona

MANILA, Philippines—Property developer Megaworld Corp. kept mum on allegations that beleaguered Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corono had acquired a penthouse unit at its plush The Bellagio high-rise residential development in The Fort, Taguig City.

“The company has a privacy policy under which it is committed to maintain all client information in strictest confidence. Consistent with this commitment, the company does not, as a matter of policy, disclose information pertaining to business dealings with its clients,” Megaworld said in a statement sent by investor relations officer John Hao on Wednesday.

This 303.5-square-meter unit at The Bellagio is expected to be used as a piece of evidence of graft and corruption in the impeachment trial of Corona at the Senate.

If summoned to shed light on this by the lawmakers, an official Megaworld spokesperson said:  “We shall comply with the official orders of the authorities in a proper forum.”

The Corona issue did not have any impact on the trading of Megaworld’s shares at the stock market on Wednesday, dealers said.

Shares of Megaworld, led by property tycoon Andrew Tan, closed unchanged at P1.74 per share, giving it a market capitalization of P44.6 billion. Shares of Megaworld’s parent firm Alliance Global Group Inc. went up by 2.1 percent to P10.66, giving it a P107.22 billion market cap. Both companies are part of the main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index, a basket of the country’s largest and most liquid companies.

While this issue has no fundamental effect on Megaworld, a stock dealer said it would be interesting to find out from Megaworld who had paid for the penthouse unit and whether the payment was made in cash or check.

The unit is one of four high-end properties purportedly owned by Corona and his wife Cristina, according to the panel of lawmakers from the House of Representatives who will serve as prosecutors at the impeachment trial scheduled to start on January 16.

Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr., the chief prosecutor, earlier said that Corona and his wife had purchased Unit 38B at Tower I of The Bellagio from Megaworld on Dec. 16, 2009, at the price of P14.51 million. The unit has three parking slots, each measuring 12.5 sqm.

A real estate expert earlier estimated that the property’s market value at present would be around P30 million to P40 million.