Justices cry ‘grave injustice’ over Sereno’s exemption from SALN requirement

Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno (left) and Associate Justice Teresita de Castro (right). (INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTOS)

The selection of Maria Lourdes Sereno as Supreme Court Chief Justice in 2012 despite her alleged failure to submit a complete statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN) was a “grave injustice” to all other applicants for the high tribunal’s top post.

This was the cry of SC Associate Justices Teresita de Castro and Diosdado Peralta while they raised questions on Sereno’s appointment as they appeared anew before the House justice committee hearing to determine the probable cause in the impeachment complaint against Sereno.

“I believe that a grave injustice was done to us, the other applicants, for the position of Chief Justice,” De Castro told the House panel on Monday. De Castro lost to Sereno in the Chief Justice race, along with 20 other nominees.

Peralta, one of the most senior SC justices, said he could have immediately objected to Sereno’s selection because of her “very clear deviation of existing rules” of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) when she failed to submit her SALN while she was a University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law professor.

“This is a very clear deviation of existing rules that if any member of judiciary would apply for Chief Justice, then she’s mandated to submit SALNs,” Peralta noted.

De Castro then proceeded to reiterate how important the submission of SALN was for applicants after the late Chief Justice Renato Corona was impeached over his failure to declare some of his bank accounts in his SALN.

“So, all of us complied with this requirement. Also, we executed waiver of secrecy and the purpose of that waiver was for the JBC to compare bank records with SALN; so it’s important because how can you compare the bank deposit if there’s no SALN?” she pointed out.

De Castro and Peralta questioned why the JBC allowed the inclusion of then SC Associate Justice Sereno in the roster of applicants to be interviewed.

During the application, Sereno sent a letter to the JBC stating that she could not submit her SALN while she was an associate professor in UP College of Law as she “could no longer locate (her) SALN because of lapse of time.”

De Castro then asked: “Why did the JBC not require her to get certified true copies from the UP or else, why did they not include this in the JBC en banc? What happened to this letter? Was it kept under wraps? Who got hold of this letter?”

“There was not even a substantial compliance because her letter says she can no longer submit her SALN from UP. There’s non-compliance absolutely,” she added.

In earlier hearings, the UP Diliman Human Resource Development Office said that they only have the top magistrate’s 2002 SALN in the records.

The certification from UP said that the Chief Justice did not submit her SALN in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. She was said to be on official leave during those years.

Sereno served as associate professor in UP Diliman from 2000 to 2009.

READ: Associate Justice Peralta hit for ‘Pontius Pilate’ act over Sereno’s appointment

/kga