New Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno: SALN in due time. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—New Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Wednesday appealed to the public and the media to patiently wait for the release of her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth.
“As earlier conveyed to you, a statement will be issued soon that will indicate what has taken place in the en banc session yesterday and that will include the full disclosure of the SALN of the Chief Justice. Thank you very much, please be patient as I take very good care in ensuring that I am exact, deliberate and careful all the time,” she said in a message addressed to the media after her speech at the 23rd Conference of the Presidents of Law Associations in Asia.
Earlier during Tuesday’s en banc session, Sereno informed the high court justices that she would release in full her SALN without any conditions.
High court’s SALN became a big issue at the impeachment trial of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona after he 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 interests.
Corona’s act has been hailed as a good start to show transparency in the government, and led to some members of Congress including Senator Francis Escudero signing similar waivers.
Corona was removed from office after he admitted that he did not include in his SALN his $2.4-million deposit in four bank accounts and P80-million deposit in three bank accounts.