Only one Sereno SALN retrieved from UP files

The University of the Philippines (UP) was only able to retrieve only one Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, a school official told lawmakers during a hearing on Monday. 

At the resumption of the House Committee on Justice's hearing on the impeachment complaint against Sereno, UP Human Resources Development Office (HRDO) chair Angela Escoto said she and administrative officer Rosemarie Pabiona were only able to get the 2002 SALN of Sereno.

"May I just say that Ms. Fabiona the head of the record section, I was with her yesterday. We tried to look for the SALN but we only find the 2002," Escoto said.

Sereno taught at the UP College of Law from 1986 to 2006.

The committee was deliberating on the allegation in Sereno's impeachment complaint that the high magistrate failed to truthfully disclose her SALN.

In his complaint, Gadon alleged that Sereno excluded in her SALN lawyer's fees amounting to P37 million when she represented the government in the Philippine International Air Terminals Company Inc. (PIATCO) case.

Sereno, in her verified reply, said she paid the corresponding taxes on income she received from PIATCO cases.

"She earned these fees from services faithfully rendered to the Republic, and not from corruption. She declared all the fees received in her income tax returns for 2004 to 2009, and she paid the corresponding taxes thereon," the reply read.

Escoto said that while UP employees file their SALN to the HRDO, the office still submits the documents to the Ombudsman.

"Kung susundan po ang practice sa HRDO po and the HRDO will submit it to the Ombudsman," she said.

Oriental Mindoro Representative Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the justice panel, then directed to issue as subpoena duces Tecum to the Ombudsman to produce the SALNs of Sereno from 2001 up to 2009.

Aside from UP officials, the Bureau of Internal Revenue was also directed by the House panel to provide them with the tax records of Sereno.

Lawyer Rosario Padilla, who attended the hearing on BIR Commissioner Cesar Dulay's behalf, said they have yet to prepare the documents as they received the subpoena only on Friday.

At the same time, they also needed the signature of Dulay to release the documents. Dulay could not attend the hearing as he is attending a conference in Boracay.

Padilla is hoping that the House panel may allow them to submit the documents until December 4.

The House justice panel is deliberating to find probable cause on the impeachment case against Sereno. —KBK, GMA News