A Supreme Court source said that newly-appointed Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno had given her consent to fully disclose her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).  The source said that the SALNs to be released will cover the period starting from when she was appointed to the SC in August 2010. 

  

However, SC clerk of court Atty. Enriquetta Vidal denied that there was such an order. Any consent given by a justice to release her SALN to the public would have to go through a process similar to a court proceeding, according to the SC guidelines. 

  

Likewise, Supreme Court spokesperson Ma. Victoria Gleoresty Guerra could not confirm the source's claims. "I have no information on that," Guerra told GMA News Online in a text message.

  

The supposed release of Sereno’s SALNs comes in the wake of a series of articles by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) that said the new CJ had not fully complied with the spirit of the SALN law as she only disclosed summaries of her SALN.

 

The PCIJ report further questioned whether Sereno’s declared net worth already included her earnings as one of the legal counsels for the government in two arbitration suits in Singapore and Washington, DC, for determination of damages to be awarded to NAIA-3 builder Philippine International Air Terminals Co. (Piatco), and Fraport AG, one of its subcontractors. 

  

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), which operates NAIA-3, said in its financial statement to the Commission on Audit that their lawyers, including Sereno, were given P2.4 billion in “cash advances/releases...for the T3 (Terminal 3) arbitration expenses."

  

Sereno, in the summary of her 2010 SALN, reported assets of P17,904,510.14, liabilities amounting to P142,342.88, for a net worth of P17,762,167.26. 

  

Sereno’s predecessor, Renato Corona, was ousted from his position of CJ as he was found to be guilty by the Senate impeachment court of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust for failing to disclose all of his peso and dollar deposits in his SALN . — DVM, GMA News