MANILA, Philippines - The judiciary that perennially complains of insufficient fund allocations apparently has millions to spend for a luxury car.
The Supreme Court (SC) has purchased a P5.1-million luxury vehicle for official use and upon the order of Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, an insider has confirmed to The STAR.
The Toyota Land Cruiser was ordered earlier this year and delivered to the SC about three months ago, according to the source.
But it was not immediately used as Sereno wanted the new service vehicle to be bulletproof, requiring another P3 million from judiciary funds.
Of the 15 justices of the high court, only Sereno has a new vehicle as her colleagues continue to use their old service vehicles.
Magistrates of SC, upon their appointments, are issued a service van and another sedan for official use. Sereno has been using a Hyundai Starex and a Toyota Camry for her services since her appointment as chief justice in 2012.
None of her predecessors used a luxury vehicle.
President Duterte earlier called on government officials to avoid using luxury vehicles and instead live a modest lifestyle as public servants.
Sereno’s luxury car provision from the SC is among the issues raised by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon in his plan to file an impeachment complaint against the Chief Justice before Congress.
In a press conference over the weekend, Gadon alleged that Sereno’s purchase of luxury vehicle using SC funds was “unreasonable, whimsical and a total waste of funds.”
“Even if such procurement passed through COA (Commission on Audit), this still is unwise government spending especially since there are almost 200 petitions or survivorship benefits of families of late justices and judges seeking share of judicial funds,” said the lawyer, who ran in the senatorial elections last year.
He believes that such procurement of a luxury vehicle would fall under the impeachable ground of “betrayal of public trust.”
“In this time when the government needs funds to address calamities and the need of many poor Filipinos, it is inappropriate to purchase luxury vehicle worth millions for a justice of the Supreme Court who already has a service vehicle in the first place,” Gadon said.
Gadon cited as another possible ground Sereno’s supposed failure to declare in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) the millions in earnings she made during her stint as a lawyer for the Philippine International Airport Terminals Co. (Piatco) in a case on the construction of Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3.
In her 2016 SALN, Sereno declared a net worth of P24.2 million, or P2.76 million higher than in the previous year.
“She did not declare in her SALN the millions she earned in the Piatco case. I have papers to prove it,” Gadon said.
Sereno worked in the government’s legal team led by retired SC justice Florentino Feliciano in the arbitration case involving the NAIA 3 expropriation.
Records from a case involving the payment of attorney’s fees in the case, which reached the Court of Appeals, showed that Sereno earned at least $336,287.66 or more than P16 million for her legal service.
The alleged non-declaration of assets in SALN was the same ground used for impeachment of the late chief justice Renato Corona by congressional allies of the previous administration.
Apart from these two grounds, Gadon said he has other documents that could constitute other grounds of impeachment against the Chief Justice.
Gadon also bared that he already discussed his plan with several lawmakers, who committed to endorse the impeachment complaint.
Earlier, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said he plans to look into the possible impeachment of Sereno after The STAR reported that she met with Court of Appeals justices and told them to defy the show cause order issued by the House against three justices in the “Ilocos 6” case.
Earlier this month, Sereno’s colleague in the SC also questioned her administrative orders, particularly the appointment of a Philippine Judicial Academy (Philja) official and provision for travel allowances of her staff.
Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro asked their colleagues to review Sereno’s orders, which she argued should have their prior approval as a collegial body as provided under the rules.
De Castro specifically assailed the appointment of lawyer Brenda Jay Mendoza as Philja chief of office for the Philippine Mediation Center, which she said violated their Administrative Order No. 33-2008 that required the appointment for the post to be approved by the SC collegially.
The magistrate also assailed Sereno’s grant of foreign travel allowance to members of her staff without required approval from the full court.
She also claimed that the Chief Justice’s staff members were given travel allowances even when their trips abroad were on “official time,” which should not involve expenditure of public funds.