Calida denies request for quo warranto case vs. Justice De Castro

Solicitor General Jose Calida has denied a private citizen's request for him to initiate quo warranto proceedings against Associate Justice Teresita de Castro.

In a two-page letter dated April 23, Calida told Jocelyn Marie Acosta that her letter filed last week presented no evidence that could persuade him to start an action for quo warranto, which he did against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno in March.

"Your letter, however, does not advert to any supporting evidence. It is basic that evidence is the means to proof; proof is the result of evidence," Calida said.

Acosta's four-page letter alleged that De Castro only filed 15 Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) out of the 39 she was purportedly supposed to have turned in over the course of her decades-long government career.

Calida, however, said De Castro was appointed on December 4, 2007, meaning his argument hurled against Sereno "does not apply to Justice De Castro since it was Sereno who was appointed as the Chief Justice without the qualifications back in 2012."

Sereno is accused of a lack of integrity over her alleged non-filing of some of her SALNs over her 20-year stint as a law professor at the University of the Philippines and her incomplete submission of her wealth disclosures to the Judicial and Bar Council while she was applying for chief justice.

Calida also took exception to the notion that his action against Sereno was brought about by the request of Eligio Mallari, a suspended lawyer, whose letter submission preceded the solicitor general's filing of his oust-Sereno plea with the Supreme Court by less than two weeks.

"At the onset, let it be clear that the Office of the Solicitor General did not file the Petition for Quo Warranto against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno because of Attorney Mallari's letter," Calida said.

"Sereno's eligibility was brought to our attention when it was found out in the course of the impeachment proceedings before the House of Representatives that she did not file her SALNs as required by the Judicial Bar Council for the position of Chief Justice at that time," he added. —NB, GMA News