President Benigno Aquino III. AP FILE PHOTO
Yes, we disclose our income reports. You’ll see on Monday.
That, in effect, is the Supreme Court’s answer to President Benigno Aquino III, who demanded in a television interview on Friday that the justices, in the spirit of transparency, should disclose their wealth.
Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te on Saturday said the justices observed transparency and gave copies of their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) to those who met the requirements.
To prove it, Te said in a statement, the court would release a list of people who had been given copies of the justices’ financial disclosures on Monday.
“Contrary to what has been reported, the Supreme Court justices have not only been complying with the requirements on the SALN, but have made these available upon compliance with the reasonable administrative requirements imposed by the court,” Te said.
Among those who have gotten copies of the justices’ SALN are journalists and civil society groups, he said.
How to get copies
Te did not say, however, whether the justices would send copies of their financial disclosures to Malacañang or publish them in newspapers of general circulation.
But any Filipino citizen who want to see the justices’ financial statements for justifiable reasons can go to the Supreme Court and file a request by filling out a standard form and submitting a photocopy of a government-issued identification card.
With any luck, the request will reach a session of the full court, which, if satisfied, will grant it.
As simple as that.
There are guidelines for obtaining copies of the justices’ financial disclosures and Te said that the point of mentioning them and the experience of journalists who have been given copies of the SALN is that “there is no lack of transparency on the Supreme Court’s part.”
In the third part of his interview with TV5 on Friday, President Aquino said the Constitution requires the Supreme Court justices to file SALN, and offered to find the provision for the Supremes.
It was another dig at the Supreme Court, which angered the President when it struck down on July 1 his economic stimulus plan, the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), which he claimed had helped so many poor people.
BIR request denied
Mr. Aquino’s transparency demand stemmed from the Supreme Court’s denying on June 17 a request of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) for copies of the financial of the justices from 2003 to 2012.
BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said the request was part of her commission’s investigation into the activities of someone in the judiciary known only as Ma’am Arlene who reportedly fixed wealthy clients’ cases.
Henares said that by denying her request, the Supreme Court justices were “creating an exception for themselves.”
The Supreme Court said its rejection of Henares’ request “must be contextualized, based on the reasons she has given in her request.”
“Please note that the Supreme Court has never said they are exempt from the SALN requirement nor that they are creating a new rule for themselves. That members of the media and civil society, including law students, have been able to obtain copies of various SALNs of the justices is proof enough that the [Supreme Court] justices are not hiding anything,” Te said at the time in response to Henares’ complaint.
Henares filed her request on Dec. 9, 2013, but it was unnotarized and missing page 2 of the standard request form, where the requesting party is required to write the reason for the request.
The application also did not include the required photocopy of a government-issued identification card.
Henares refiled the application on Feb. 10, 2014, this time notarizing it and clearly stating the intent of her request: “For tax investigation purposes pursuant to Section 5(B) of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997 and in relation to the Ma’am Arlene controversy in the judiciary.”
Both requests also contained a disclosure that the BIR “may have pending cases with some of the divisions of the Court of Appeals,” which is under the Supreme Court.
Henares appealed the court’s June 17 denial of her request. The court has yet to take up the appeal.
Submit to Ombudsman
Backing President Aquino, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Saturday proposed that the Supremes submit copies of their SALN to the Ombudsman for transparency’s sake.
That way, Pimentel said, the public could access the justices’ financial disclosures.
He also proposed that the Senate Secretariat transmit the senators’ SALN to the Ombudsman for the same reason.
“Let the Ombudsman be the default custodian of the 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,” Pimentel said in a telephone interview. “My understanding of the law is you don’t keep it to yourself.”
Meanwhile, judiciary employees will continue silently protesting the President’s continuing attacks on the judiciary on Monday.
“We were hoping that the situation would sober up, but it seems he (President Aquino) won’t,” said Jojo Guerrero, president of the Judiciary Employees Association of the Philippines (Judea).
“There is a rule that you cannot just get copies of the SALNs without a purpose… Why is he targetting the justices?” he said. With a report from TJ Burgonio
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