SC bares SALN of justices; Jardeleza is richest

FOR the first time, the Supreme Court has made public a summary of the statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) for 2014 of its justices.

The high court’s move, according to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, is part of its efforts to foster greater transparency in the judiciary.

Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza who was appointed to the high court in August last year is the richest magistrate. His SALN showed a networth of P244,413,320.16. His real properties are worth P58,937,363.00 while his personal property is P185,475,957.16 with no liability. He jointly filed his SALN with his wife Concepcion.

Next to Jardeleza is Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo with 130,906,517.36. His real properties are worth P50,909,133.00 while his personal property is P80,666,586.94 while his liability is worth P669,202.58. Del Castillo’s net worth is up from his previous P122,217,723 and P109,743,118.28 the previous year. His SALN includes the assets of his wife Dean Cynthia Roxas-Del Castillo.

Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio’s networth went down to P83,679,398.00 from 2013’s P84,309,762.57. His real properties are worth P38,198,000.00 while his personal property is P83,754,398.00. His liability is worth P75,000.00.

Associate Justice Marvic Leonen has the lowest networth with P2,098,780.57. It was up by P281,073.82 from the previous year’s P1,817,706.75. He has no real properties but his personal properties are worth P2,589,521.90 with P490,741.33 liabilities.

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s net worth also grew by P571,456.13 from 2013’s P19,012,648.21 to 19,584,104.34. Her real properties are worth P8,973,500 while her personal property is worth P11,185,013.35 with P574,409.01 liability.

Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes’ networth went down by P1,552,729.00 from previous’ P78,274,991 to 76,722,262.00 while Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe’s networth increased by P363,220.00 from the previous year’s P74,633,410 to P74. 996,630.00.

On the other hand, Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta had a net worth of P35,348,931.25 which is P2,910,700.00 higher than P32,438,231.25 the previous year while Associate Justice Jose Mendoza’s networth is P34,032,378.08 which is up by P2,453, 576.65 from the previous year; Associate Justice Martin Villarama’s networth is P28,061,337.17 which is higher by P3,989,815.33 from last year’s P24,071,521.84. He filed with wife Atty. Maria Luisa Villarama.

Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin’s networth went down by P93,572.00 to P27,724,828.00 from last year’s P27,818,400 while Associate Justice Arturo Brion’s networth went up by P2,416,041.00 to P19,015,950.00 from the previous year’s P16,599,909; Associate Justice Jose Perez’ networth is P14,124,000.00 which is P525,000 higher from last year’s P13,599,000.

Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro’s networth is up by P2,030,000.00 to P12,446,000.00 from last year’s P10,416,000.00 and Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. networth is P12,220,634.00 which is P1,835,544.51 higher from the previous year’s P10,385,089.49.

The high court allowed the public to have copies of high court justices SALN in 2012 following the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona. Corona was impeached after he was found guilty of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust for not declaring his foreign currency deposits.

Prior to 2012, the SALN of high court justices is not accessible to public. In 1989, it denied a request to release their SALN. They affirmed their decision in a 1992 resolution saying the denial of SALN request is for the protection of justices and judges from acts that may “endanger, diminish or destroy their independence and objectivity in the performance of their judicial functions.”