CHIEF Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno failed to submit a complete Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth when she applied for the top post of the Supreme Court and should have been disqualified, two of her colleagues said Monday.
Testifying before the House committee on justice, Associate Justices Teresita de Castro and Diosdado Peralta said Sereno did not qualify for the top post because she failed to submit her SALN for the last 10 years as required by the Judicial and Bar Council.
“I believe that a grave injustice was done to us, the other applicants, for the position of chief justice,” De Castro told the panel. “All of us complied with this requirement. Also, we executed a waiver of secrecy.. [so that] the JBC [could] compare bank records with the SALN… [H]ow can you compare the bank deposit if there’s no SALN?” she said.
Peralta, who presided over the JBC proceedings for the nominees for the position vacated by impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona, said the July 20, 2012 letter of Sereno asking for an exemption to the submission of SALN was not presented to the council en banc.
“The letter of the Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno dated July 23, 2012 was never presented to the Judicial [and Bar Council] en banc for discussion. I think the minutes will bear that out. Likewise the certificate of clearance attached to the said letter was also not included for deliberation in the JBC en banc when we considered the candidates for voting,” he said.
He said had he known about Sereno’s letter, he should have opposed her selection.
During the application, Sereno sent a letter to the JBC saying she could not submit her SALN while she was an associate professor at the University of the Philippines’ College of Law since she “could no
longer locate [her] SALN because of [the] lapse of time.”
De Castro, who also applied for the position of chief justice, said this was the first time she knew about the letter.
Peralta also accused Sereno of influencing the JBC to manipulate the selection process for candidates to judicial positons.
Annaliza Capacite, a regular member of the JBC, confirmed to the panel that Sereno had not submitted a complete set of SALN.
A spokesperson for Sereno, Jojo Lacanilao, said the fact that she was on the JBC shortlist meant she had complied with its requirements.
Lacanilao also accused Peralta of trying to wash his hands of Sereno’s inclusion in the shortlist, when he was in fact also a member of the JBC.
“It is clear to us that Justice Peralta wants to wash his hands clean of how Chief Justice Sereno was included in the JBC shortlist and he knows it,” Lacanilao said.
He said that as acting chairman of the JBC, Peralta signed the endorsement letter to Malacañang containing the list of nominees for the chief justice post, which included the names of Sereno and seven other candidates.