SC denies anew plea for copies of SALNs of Justice Leonen
The Supreme Court (SC) has denied anew the request of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) to secure copies of the statements of assets, liabilities and networth (SALNs) of Associate Justice Marvic Mario Victor F. Leonen for the purpose of filing a quo warranto case against him.
In a resolution issued by the SC after its full court session on Tuesday, Nov. 3, the SC junked the motion filed by the OSG to reconsider the court’s Sept. 15, 2020 resolution on the request.
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.”
It was the same case filed by the OSG chief, Solicitor General Jose C. Calida that resulted in the ouster of Maria Lourdes P. Sereno as Chief Justice.
Last September 15, the SC denied the requests filed by Solicitor General Calida and Atty. Lorenzo G. Gadon for the copies of Justice Leonen’s SALNs.
Last October 22, the OSG filed its motion for reconsideration. A copy of the SC’s resolution on the denial of the OSG’s motion was not immediately available.
Leonen was appointed to the SC in 2012. Before his SC post, he was a professor of the University of the Philippines College of Law.
Published reports alleged that Leonen did not file his 2003, 2008 and 2009 SALNs.
The filing of SALN is required by law for all government officials and employees.
Last month, Chief Justice Diosdado M. Peralta said the SC’s decision to deny the release of the copies of SALNs of judiciary members is for the protection of judges and justices.
“So we came up with the guidelines that we can only release the summary of the SALNs,” Peralta said.
He said that if the SALNs of judges and justices are released, their addresses and those of their children, and other personal information would be known and those pieces of information may put them at risk.
“That is why we are not only protecting ourselves but protecting also those judges in the lower courts,” he pointed out.