Pimentel urges SC justices, senators to submit SALNs to Ombudsman

Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Backing President Benigno Aquino, Senator Aquilino Pimentel III  proposed Saturday that Supreme Court justices submit their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) to the Ombudsman for transparency’s sake.

While the Constitution is silent on the matter, the justices should take their cue from the President and Vice President who have submitted copies of their SALNs to the Ombudsman, Pimentel said.

That way, their SALNs could be accessed by the public, said the senator, who also proposed that the Senate Secretariat transmit the senators’ SALNs to the Ombudsman for the same reason.

“Let the Ombudsman be the default custodian of SALNs. If the law isn’t clear where you will give a copy of the SALN, then you should reproduce the SALN as filed, and give it to the Ombudsman,’’ he said in a telephone interview. “My understanding of the law is you don’t keep it to yourselves.’’

The public could then request copies of the SALNs from the Ombudsman. Under the present setup, SALNs are kept by the officials’ respective agencies.

President Aquino, in an exclusive interview with TV5, reminded the justices about the constitutional provision mandating them to file their SALNs.

“It’s in the Constitution. You need to file your SALN. We — the President, the Vice President, Justices of the Supreme Court, heads of other constitutional commissions, and toward the end, the officers of the AFP with flag rank – have to make this statement public,” he said.

The Supreme Court justices, in a resolution in June, rejected the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s December 2013 request for copies of their SALNs to determine if they paid the right taxes. The justices ruled that the request lacked sufficient basis.

Revenue Commission Kim Henares accused the justices of “creating an exception for themselves.’’

Pimentel, chair of the Senate’s justice committee, also backed the President’s call for transparency in the use of the Judiciary Development Fund, whose alleged abuse has prompted administration lawmakers to threaten to impeach Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno.

He suggested that the Supreme Court produce a Commission on Audit report on the JDF.

“That’s the right call. The Supreme Court should be transparent. And compliance with that is making the report public – for as long as the COA audits the JDF. That makes it transparent,’’ he said.

If there is abuse of the JDF, as the lawmakers alleged, this could be gleaned from the COA report, the senator said.

“If the JDF is being audited, then show us the audit report. That is enough transparency,’’ he said. “Is it true that COA is auditing the JDF? Does COA have full access to JDF and records? If the answer is yes, then we should get the report.’’

Administration lawmakers have threatened to impeach Sereno over the alleged abuse of the JDF, a move seen as retaliation for the Supreme Court’s adverse rulings on the administration’s programs, including the striking down as unconstitutional of the legislators pork barrel.