High court justices should be more forthcoming with SALNs, say lawyers

The Supreme Court. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The judiciary should exercise more transparency.

Legal experts shared this view in light of President Benigno Aquino III’s recent call for justices of the Supreme Court to publicly release their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

The high court en banc releases the justices’ declaration of their wealth to those who comply with requirements of the law and its administrative regulations.

“I think they could make the requirements more liberal so that people won’t have a difficult time accessing their SALNs, so that there would be no questions asked whether transparency is lived and practiced in reality,” said Rene Sarmiento, former election commissioner and now a practicing private lawyer.

“All public officials are expected to be transparent about their SALNs. There should be no distinction. No one should be above the law. If you do your best as a public servant, why be afraid?” said Sarmiento.

Lawyer Harry Roque, associate professor at the UP College of Law, agreed. “They (justices) are taking their title as gods of Padre Faura (the seat of the high court) too seriously. The law does not distinguish on the rule on filing of SALNs and public access to them. The Court should, hence, not distinguish and have its own peculiar rule on transparency,” he said.

Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) president Vicente Joyas, however, saw nothing wrong with the high court’s procedure in granting access to the magistrates’ SALNs, saying regulations were meant to protect the court from the abuse of the public’s right to know.

“The administrative requirements are just meant to prevent just anybody from asking for SALNs without a legitimate or legal purpose. I do not subscribe to the perception that [the release of SALNs] is discretionary. The Supreme Court is just regulating it so that the requests won’t be indiscriminate,” Joyas said.

But he said the IBP was open to addressing the issue of relaxing such regulations if it is formally raised before the organization.

Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila law dean Ernesto Maceda Jr., for his part, said regulations reflect the principle that “the right to information is really not absolute.”

Maceda said magistrates must be extra cautious in releasing personal information as litigants might use it against them. In the SALNs, for instance, justices are required to provide their full addresses—data that might endanger those who are handling sensitive cases, he said.

Under Republic Act No. 6713, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees requires all civil servants from the President down to government employees to submit their SALNs as an obligation, saying “the public has the right to know” their financial standing.

While providing such public access, the law also laid down limitations and said the SALNs may not be obtained for “any purpose contrary to morals or public policy; or any commercial purpose other than by news and communications media for dissemination to the general public.”

Currently, different government agencies give access to officials’ SALNs to applicants upon satisfying certain requirements, such as filing accomplished application forms, payment of necessary fees for reproduction and clearly stating their purpose and showing that their intent does not violate delimitations set by the law.

SALN requests, therefore, may not be made—and granted—on a whim.

In the case of the Supreme Court, the release of SALNs— which justices submit to their Clerk of Court—is governed by further regulations set forth in an en banc resolution on June 13, 2012, essentially striking a balance between upholding both the public’s right to know and the protection and preservation of judicial independence.

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