SC justices won’t give SALNs to BIR

MANILA, Philippines - Supreme Court (SC) justices have denied a request of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to look into their assets.

In a resolution promulgated June 17 and released last week, the high court rejected the request of BIR Commissioner Kim Henares to obtain copies of the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) of the justices.

The high court cited “lack of sufficient basis” in rejecting the request, but did not elaborate.

A member of the high court, who asked not be named, explained that the request was rejected for being unnecessary.

“There is already a mechanism in place for release of the SALNs. Also, we have already released them to the public. That’s now open to scrutiny,” the magistrate told The STAR.

Henares earlier said the BIR intends to determine whether the magistrates of the high court had paid the right taxes.

Henares argued that everyone in government service should file and provide copies of their SALNs upon request.

This developed while the executive branch is perceived to be attacking the high tribunal following its recent ruling declaring portions of Malacañang’s Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) as illegal.

The SC, for its part, had released earlier this month the SALNs of the justices for 2013, which was published in The STAR on June 10.

Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo remains the richest magistrate of the high court. His SALN showed a net worth of P122,217,723.13 in 2013, up by over P12 million from his net worth of P109,743,118.28 in the previous year.

Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio is the second richest with P84,309,762.57 in net worth for 2013, less than half a million pesos higher than his net worth of P83,885,614.57 in 2012.

Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the most junior justice in the SC, had a net worth of P1,817,706.75 last year, slightly up from his P1,674,623.22 in 2012.

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s net worth also grew by less than P1 million from P18,143,104.01 in 2012 to P19,012,648.21 last year.

Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes had P78,274,991 in net worth last year, higher by some P1.7 million than his P76,542,167.31 in 2012.

Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe had P74,633,410 in net worth in 2013, also less than a million pesos higher than her P73,827,435 in the previous year.

The SALN of Associate Justice Roberto Abad, who retired from the judiciary last May 22, showed a net worth of P47.3 million.

In the latest SALNs, Justice Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta had net worth of P32,438,231.25 for 2013, Justice Jose Mendoza with P31,578,801.43, Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin with P27,818,400, Justice Martin Villarama Jr. with P24,071,521.84, Justice Arturo Brion with P16,599,909, Justice Jose Perez with P13,599,000, Justice Teresita Leonardo- de Castro with P10,416,000 and Presbitero Velasco Jr. with P10,385,089.49.

The SALNs of the justices were released for the first time after 20 years in August 2012, some two months after the high court released guidelines for releasing the SALNs of judges and justices.

The high court decided to make public the SALNs of the justices following the impeachment of former chief justice Renato Corona, who was found guilty of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust on accusations that he did not declare millions worth of properties in his SALN.

In previous years, the assets of SC justices were not released under the May 2, 1989 resolution where magistrates unanimously ruled to deny the request of petitioner Jose Alejandrino for release of their SALNs.

The high court stood by the previous rule with another resolution in 1992, saying it wanted to protect justices and judges from acts that may “endanger, diminish or destroy their independence and objectivity in the performance of their judicial functions.”