SC: SALN a tool for public transparency, not political vendetta

An asset statement of a government official or employee should be viewed as a “tool for public transparency” and not as a “weapon for political vendetta,” the Supreme Court (SC) has said.

The SC issued the statement after it granted on January 12 the plea of the widow of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona for the release of his retirement benefits and her survivorship pension, nearly nine years after Corona was ousted from the judiciary due to his failure to fully disclose his wealth.

“For the future's worth, it is herein stressed that the SALN (Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth) is a tool for public transparency, never a weapon for political vendetta,” the SC said in its decision.

“The Filipino people live, toil, and thrive in a democracy, but the rule of law should not stand parallel to the rule of the mob. Toe this line, and the nation may eventually behold the laws that the courts have forever sworn to uphold battered and bent.”

The high court cited the position of the late Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, who said at the time that she adopted a “very high” standard of evidence when it came to impeachment because its penalty could ruin someone’s life.

“A staunch supporter against the removal of Chief Justice Corona, Senator Defensor Santiago phrased the unanswered question as a seeming rhetoric: "[d]oes omission in the SALN belong to the same class, as for example, treason, bribery…?” the SC said.

At present, the Office of the Ombudsman limits access to public officials’ SALNs by requiring consent of the SALN’s owner before a request can be evaluated by the Ombudsman’s office. Ombudsman Samuel Martires said the SALN had been weaponized to discredit government officials.

Voting 20 to 3, the Senate on May 29, 2012 removed Corona from office after he did not disclose $2.4 million and P80 million in bank deposits in his SALN.

Corona linked his ouster to the high court’s decision in November 2011 that took away the ownership of the vast Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac from then-President Benigno Aquino III’s relatives and placed the sugar estate under the government's agrarian reform program.

In September 2013, then-Senator Jinggoy Estrada alleged that he and other senators who voted to convict Corona received P50 million each in additional funds from the Disbursement Acceleration Program months after the impeachment trial.

Then-Budget Secretary Florencio Abad dismissed the allegations as “baseless and inaccurate.” — RSJ, GMA News