Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza was the richest magistrate of the Supreme Court, while Associate Justice Marvic Leonen was the “poorest” among the justices last year.
Based on the summary of statements of assets, liabilities and net worth of the 15 justices for 2015, Jardeleza had a net worth of P249,682,637.22. He included joint assets with his wife in his SALN declaration, which showed an increase of P5.2 million from his 2014 net worth of P244,413,320.16.
For his part, Leonen declared a net worth of P2,265,166.45 last year, which was higher by some P170,000 than his net worth in the previous year. He had no real property and had P360,495.61 in liabilities.
Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo was the second richest magistrate with a net worth of P135,372,247.18, which was about P5 million higher than the previous year. His SALN included assets of his wife Dean Cynthia Roxas-Del Castillo.
The latest appointee of President Benigno Aquino III in SC, Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa was third richest with net worth of P117,175,000 in 2015.
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s net worth also grew by over P3 million from 2014’s 19,584,104.34 to her latest at P22,625,195.89. Her real properties dropped by about a million pesos to P7.952 million while her personal properties grew by almost P6 million to P14.673 million as compared to the previous year.
Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio’s net worth in 2015 went down to P82,000,220.00 from P83,679,398.00 in 2014.
Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro’s net worth in 2015 went up by some P2 million to P14,046,00 from the previous year’s P12,446,000.
Associate Justice Arturo Brion had P20,261,701 in 2015 from P19,015,950 in the previous year, while Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta had a net worth of P39,075,231.25 last year, which was also higher by some P4 million from his 2014’s P35,348,931.25.
Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin’s net worth also grew by some P1.5 million last year at P29,156,828 from 2014’s P27,724,828, while Associate Justice Jose Mendoza’s net worth in 2015 was P37,324,712.11 or over P3 million than the P34,033,378 he had the previous year.
Associate Justice Jose Perez’ net worth has remained at P14,124,000.
Lastly, Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes’ net worth went up from 76,722,262 in 2014 to P77,024,532.92 last year, just like Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe’s net worth which grew from P74,996,630 to P76,500,494.56.
It was the second time in its 114-year history that the SC voluntarily released the summary of SALNs of its members.
The SALNs of justices have been released by the high court to the public annually since 2012 but only upon official request from interested parties subject to the approval of the full court.