Calida insists Sereno repeatedly failed to file SALNs

MANILA, Philippines — Solicitor General Jose Calida on Sunday said that Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno is a liar and insisted that she repeatedly failed to file her Statements of Asset, Liabilities, and Net Worth.

 “In her twenty years as a UP law professor, Sereno failed to file her SALN 11 times,” Calida said. 

“If Sereno indeed filed her SALNs, why can't she just produce them?” he added.

Calida also made the allegation in his Quo Warranto petition, which questions the validity of Sereno's appointment as chief justice.

The solicitor general claimed that there is no independent evidence showing that Sereno filed her SALNs for the years 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006.

Sereno has said that Calida’s submission of the SALNs proves that the quo warranto is “baseless.” She also claimed that she filed the SALNs and that the solicitor general’s confirmation that he obtained copies is proof that she did file the documents.

For Calida, Sereno’s non-admission is another “futile attempt to veer away from the truth.”

 “As certified by the UP HRDO, Sereno selectively filed her SALNs for the years 1985, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, and 2002. This certification, along with copies of the aforementioned SALNs, were submitted by the OSG to the Supreme Court in its Reply last 27 March 2018,” Calida alleged.

“Moreover, Sereno supposed retrieval of nine more of her SALNs is irrelevant. Except for the 1989 SALN, and assuming it is not a fabrication, these SALNs are the ones OSG already submitted to the Supreme Court,” he added.

Last Thursday, lawyer Jojo Lacanilao, Sereno’s spokesperson, that the chief justice has “recently retrieved her 1985, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997” SALNs.

READ: Calida tells Sereno: We retrieved those SALNs

 Calida said Sereno lacks ten more SALNs. He added that the retrieval of her SALNs will not have bearing in the quo warranto petition because she failed to submit them before the Judicial and Bar Council when they were required.

Sereno's lawyers have repeatedly said that the JBC had considered her as having "substantially complied" with the SALN submisison requirement. The JBC, which has multi-sectoral representation, included her on the short list of nominees to the position of chief justice in 2012.  — Rosette Adel