Public has exhaustively scrutinized our SALNs, says Sereno

Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno answers media questions during a press conference at the Bayleaf, Intramuros. Manila. RAFFY LERMA

MANILA, Philippines—Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Thursday maintained that they are observing transparency amid criticisms that they are hiding their Statement of Assets Liabilities and Networth (SALN).

The Supreme Court has rejected request from the Bureau of Internal Revenue to be given access to the SALN of the high court magistrates, Court of Appeals and Court of Tax Appeals’ justices.

Sereno said denial of the request should not be misconstrued as lack of transparency in the Judiciary.

She said the request appears to be like a “fishing expedition” on the part of the BIR.

The high court’s chief asked why the justices were being subjected to such an intense calls to make public their assets when they have already done that.

“Ano pa bang dahilan ng pagdududa? Gagawin po ba sa lahat ng mg opisyales yan o pinupuntirya lang ang mga miyembro ng hudikatura? Ano pa bang impormasyon ang kailangan na maipapakita namin para mapatunayan na wala kaming itinatago? Hindi ko po maintindihan kung ano ang dahilan. Ang SALN ko nga sobra nang nabusisi, alam ng taumbayan kung ilan ang sasakyan namin,” she said.

Sereno also said that the SALNs they are submitting are not summary of their assets and liabilities but a complete and detailed list of their net worth.

Sereno also said that the current system of releasing SALNs which are governed by guidelines issued by the high court in 2012 in the wake of the impeachment of then Chief Justice Renato Corona is a big step and improvement compared to the previous administration.

“This is a major improvement over the previous regime that prohibited the release of SALNs except in [extraordinary]cases,” she said.

When asked if she or the other justices are open to a lifestyle check, Sereno said “every step has to be fully discussed” considering that the set of guidelines the Court has issued on the release of the SALNs is only two years old.

“Give us a little rest, it’s just two years. Some justices are okay with a lifestyle check, some may not be okay so you have to build consensus and every step has to be fully discussed,” she added.

Besides, Sereno said if the BIR wants to conduct an investigation, BIR Commissioner Kim Henares already has the Supreme Court’s alphalist.

The alphalist or alphabetical list is a list of employees/payees of income payments submitted by employers to the BIR.

“Our alphalist is with Commissioner Henares,” Sereno said.

In its resolution junking the BIR’s request, the High Court said Henares “exceeded its authority to investigate and examine the tax liabilities of the members of the Court, the CA and the CTA by requesting for certified copies of their SALNs.”

Likewise, the SC pointed out that Henares failed to allege in particularity who she seeks to investigate and that she had not given notice to those supposedly being investigated that they are being accused of fraud.

The SC also took notice why Henares is only asking for the SALNs of its justices as well as those from the appellate court and the CTA and not the justices of the Sandiganbayan or the first level courts if it was really meant to ensure tax compliance by members of the judiciary.

The BIR chief specifically requested for the copies of the SALNs of the justices from 2003 to 2012.