Martires calls Sereno’s argument for not filing SALNs ‘hypocrisy’

The argument of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno that there were other applicants to the Supreme Court’s top post who only substantially complied with the requirement to submit their statement of assets, liabilities and networth (SALN) is a fallacy, a hypocrisy.

Associate Justice Samuel Martires called Sereno’s argument as a “tu quoque fallacy,” which he said meant: “You were using the fault of other applicants to justify the non-filing [of SALN].”

Martires made the remark during the oral arguments at the Supreme Court on the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida against Sereno.

Another justice, Noel Tijam said he was amused by Sereno’s insistence that shedhas complied with the submission of SALNs but her copies were missing.

In her comment, Sereno said that the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) had relaxed the rules on the submission of SALN because not all the applicants were able to comply with it.

Tijam likened Sereno’s argument to child who failed to submit her homework in school.

“Petra, why did you not submit your assignment? And Petra said: ‘I was not reminded by my parents and my other classmates has not submitted their assignments too’,” Tijam said.

“SALN is a constitutional and statutory requirement. This is not something trivial, just a piece of paper. This has something to do with being honest, being truthful,” Tijam said. /atm