The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday denied the requests of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) and a private law practitioner to secure copies of the statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALNs) of Associate Justice Marvic Mario Victor F. Leonen for the purpose of filing a quo warranto case against him.
A quo warranto “is a special civil action brought in the name of the Philippines against a person who usurps, intrudes into, or unlawfully holds or exercises a public office, position, or franchise.”
Denied were the requests filed by Solicitor General Jose C. Calida and Atty. Lorenzo G. Gadon.
SC’s public information office (PIO) chief Atty. Brian Keith F. Hosaka said Justice Leonen did not take part in the justices’ deliberation on the requests during their full court session.
Hosaka also said:
“I would like to confirm that the Supreme Court in today’s En Banc session unanimously resolved to deny the requests of the Office of the Solicitor General and Atty. Lorenzo G. Gadon for copies of the SALNs of, and other information pertaining to SC Associate Justice Marvic Mario Victor F. Leonen, for purposes of preparing a quo warranto petition.”
A copy of Calida’s letter was not available.
In the case of Gadon, his request stated:
"This is to respectfully request for certified copies of the SALNs of Associate Justice Marvic Leonen for the years 1990 to 2011 , the SALNs required to be submitted upon his application to the Supreme Court, and a certification from your office on the lacking years if any."
Gadon requested copies of Leonen’s SALNs for the years 1990 to 2011.
Leonen was appointed to the SC in 2012. Before his SC post, he was a professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law.
Published reports alleged that Leonen did not file his 2003, 2008, and 2009 SALNs.
The non-filing of SALNs, as required by law for all government officials and employees, was used as a basis in the ouster of then Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
The quo warranto petition against Sereno was filed by Calida.