Gadon on SC finding him guilty of perjury: P150,000 fine is exorbitant

Secretary Larry Gadon, Presidential Adviser for Poverty Alleviation, during the Pandesal Forum in Quezon City on August 8, 2023. INQUIRER.net / Ryan Leagogo

MANILA, Philippines — Presidential anti-poverty czar and disbarred lawyer Larry Gadon dismissed the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision to fine him P150,000 for gross misconduct, saying that most wealthy people are not lawyers anyway.

READ: SC: Gadon lied under oath in Sereno impeachment case; P150K fine set

The SC found Gadon guilty of perjury and for making accusations based on hearsay. Gadon was supposed to be disbarred with the decision, but he was already disbarred in 2023 for a separate case.

“Most successful, popular, very wealthy and rich people are not lawyers, so the disbarment is not the whole world and life for me, I have stopped being a lawyer for 10 years now. I am a retired lawyer for 10 years already and has no intention to go back  into law practice, para sa mga bata lang yan (that is just for the young),” said Gadon in a message to reporters.

However, he still found the fine excessive.

“The penalty of P150,000 is exorbitant and has no basis in jurisprudence,” he said

Gadon also alleged (without proof) that Justice Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen had a hand in the resolution.

“This is also a vendetta of Justice Leonen against whom I filed an impeachment case in 2019,” said Gadon.

Gadon, who recently garnered controversy for dismissing hardships in life as imaginary, was also suspicious of the timing of the resolution

READ: Life is hard? ‘Haka-haka lang iyan,’ anti-poverty czar Gadon says

“The timing of the release of the SC resolution is also suspicious at this time that I publicly criticized ABS-CBN and at this time that I have announced plans to urge the HoR (House of Representatives) to open the case of ABS-CBN anew,” said Gadon.

“The Public Information Officer of the SC now is a former ABS-CBN reporter,” said Gadon.

While Gadon did not name names, former ABS-CBN reporter Mike Navallo was recently named as the SC’s Chief Communications Officer.

Navallo, who is currently out of the country, will only begin his new mandate in the SC on August 1.

As usual, Gadon did not provide substantive proof for this insinuation against the reporter or the SC.