Leonen: SALN a tool but not a measure of integrity

Associate Justice Marvic Leonen on Tuesday said integrity cannot be measured by a piece of paper, taking a turn from discussions that centered on whether or not Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno filed her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) in accordance with law.

Following Associate Justice Teresita de Castro's heated interpellation at the oral arguments on Solicitor General Jose Calida's petition for quo warranto, Leonen said SALNs are a tool, but are not by themselves the measure of integrity.

Calida's petition, separate from impeachment proceedings at the House of Representatives, hinges on Sereno's alleged lack of integrity when she supposedly failed to completely disclose her wealth.

"Integrity is not measured only by pieces of paper. It is helpful, in fact that is what the statements of assets and liabilities are, to catch someone with unexplained wealth but not to catch someone with unexplained poverty," he said.

Political colors: yellow, red, black

"Therefore, it is a tool, it is not by itself the measure of integrity, because if it is the measure of integrity, then God help us, because I think the measure of integrity is the ability of the justice not to be swayed by pressure from yellow or red or black of whatever political color," he added.

His remarks followed a back-and-forth questioning, where Sereno mostly agreed with him, on topics that ranged from the chief justice's teaching position at the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law to the SALN requirements for applications to Supreme Court posts in different years.

"Maybe integrity is putting P10 million there and saying that P10 million is in cash you can take it, nobody will ask questions about you, there will be no piece of paper that would show that. But if our measure of integrity is only a piece of paper God help us, God help the Court," he said.

While driving home the point that Sereno was on leave from UP for some years between 2000 and 2006, Leonen asked her if she could have been "bribed to give a good grade," or if she could have committed the "bigger crimes" of bribery and indirect bribery.

Sereno responded in the negative, because she was, she said, on leave.

"Regardless of whether or not the SALNs are there, did you under oath... steal from UP?" Leonen asked, to which Sereno said "I had no effective ties (to UP) at all."

Leonen then turned to Sereno's latest net worth. She said her 2016 net worth was P24.249 million, a part of which came from her husband's income.

The associate justice also noted that the SALN requirement of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) was not present when there was an opening for the chief justice post in 2010, the year former chief justice Reynato Puno retired, but became a requirement two years later, in 2012.

The JBC is constitutionally mandated to screen and vet nominees for vacant posts in the judiciary and the Offices of the Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman.

"The JBC has not been consistent in relation to the requirement of SALN, is that not correct? But they are consistent in trying to find out whether a person can be predictably one with integrity, is that not correct, because it is the constitutional requirement," he said.

He said that in the years that SALNs were not required by the JBC, "there was no way of finding out whether the justices did have SALNs and therefore it is possible to quo warranto everyone of them, because none of them could be found to have SALNs." — MDM, GMA News