(Eagle News) — A former senator and a nun have asked the Supreme Court to make the Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth of the justices available to the public.
Former lawmaker Rene Saguisag and Mary John Mananzan said such was, after all, a “justified and a necessary consequence of the Supreme Court’s majority decision on the quo warranto petition against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.”
“Since the majority of the Court has ruled that SALN filing is equivalent to the requirement of integrity, the Supreme Court is now required to be transparent with the SALNs of the incumbent Justices,” they said.
In short, they said the justices could no longer “pursue the same prohibitive rules on SALN disclosures as contained in A.M. Nos. 09-8-6-SC as it did prior to its ruling in Republic v. Sereno.”
A.M. Nos. 09-8-6-SC said the decision to disclose the SALNs of the Justices of the Supreme Court, the Sandiganbayan and the Court of Tax Appeals was left to the en banc to as to prevent any infringement on judicial independence.
“Considering the implications of the SC ruling that the inability to prove submission of SALNs is proof of lack of integrity, there is now an overwhelming need for concerned citizens of this Republic to have access to the SALNs of all incumbent Justices of the Supreme Court,” they said.
Voting 8-2, the SC nullified the appointment of Sereno as Chief Justice after ruling she lacked integrity.
This was for her alleged failure to submit her complete Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, and for her alleged tendency to deceive based on her testimonies and submitted documents.