High Court: Release SALN of judges

ABOUT 2,000 judges across the country can no longer keep their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN)  confidential.

The Supreme Court yesterday approved the release in full of the 2011 SALN of all justices and judges, a reversal of a 1989 policy that shielded them from requests to disclose their official record of personal wealth.

Acting high court spokesperson lawyer Gleo Guerra said the high court shall set  a guideline on the release of the SALN, which will be taken up in its special en banc session on June 13.

“The release of the SALN was a collective decision of the court,” Guerra said.

The special en banc session was called by acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio.

The decision in effect overruled the 1989 ruling in the Alejandrino case where the high court unanimously voted to deny the request for copies of the SALN, which are directly or indirectly traced to a litigant, lawyer or any party with a pending case before the court.

The 1989 ruling said there has to be a “legitimate reason” for such a request as well as good faith and should not be used to fish for information that can be used to influence a court’s decision.

The 1989 ruling of the high court was repeated in 1992, in a resolution where the Supreme Court restricted the disclosure of SALNs not only of high court justices but justices from the Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan, Court of Tax Appeals, lower court judges and court personnel to shield them from acts that may “endanger, diminish or destroy their independence and objectivity in the performance of their judicial functions.”

“In effect [overruling the Alejandrino case] is the net effect,” Guerra said but clarified that it is a disclosure of SALN but not a waiver.

Last week Chief Justice Renato Corona signed an unconditional waiver allowing the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to look into his bank accounts and business interest.

Corona’s act was hailed as a good start to show transparency in the government. Some congressmen and Sen. Francis Escudero signed a similar waiver and challenged the other government officials to do the same.

Corona was removed from office by the Senate impeachment court in a ruling on Wednesday after he admitted omitting from his SALN his $2.4 million deposit into 4 bank accounts and P80 million deposit in three bank accounts.