Brion not least wealthy after all, says total net worth is P59.5M

A comparison of the 2011 statements of assets liabilities and net worth of the 14 Supreme Court justice would make it appear Associate Justice Arturo Brion has the least net worth that year with P1,498,509. As it turned out, however, the amount declared by Brion only referred to his declaration of assets, liabilities, and net worth for 2011 alone, and did not include his wealth in previous years. "Please be informed that the said SALN is an Annual Declaration of assets, liabilities and net worth for year 2011 and is not a declaration of his total assets liabilities and net worth," the Supreme Court Public Information Office said in a clarificatory statement. The high court said the value declared in Brion's 2011 SALNs will still have to be added to his earlier SALN in 2010 when he made his "baseline declaration" to get the magistrate's total net worth. In the same statement, Brion revealed that his 2010 net worth was P58,046,166. Adding his 2010 and 2011 net worth, Brion's total net worth by 2011's end would be P59,544,675. Brion explained that he decided to just make an annual declaration instead of a total declaration because the latter was not necessary, based on the Civil Service Commission's SALN Manual. “A comprehensive listing of ALL assets and liabilities is not needed in the AD [Annual Declaration]. What need to be documented in the AD are only acquisitions and disposals of assets; incurrence, retirement, and payment/reduction of Liabilities; creation and termination of Business Interests and Financial Connections; and Relatives joining or being separated from the Government, since the last SALN submission,” Brion quoted the manual as saying. Saturday's SALN clarification was the second from a Supreme Court justice since it decided to publicize the magistrates' SALNs. The first one to make a clarification was Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who released on Thursday her SALN that indicated her net worth as P17,985,375.51. The SALN she released through the SC-PIO turned out to be an outdated version. In a clarificatory statement with an accompanying updated SALN issued Friday, Sereno said her total corrected net worth in 2011 was P18,029,575.51. Based on SALNs released to a TV network earlier this week, Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo was the wealthiest among the Supreme Court's 14 magistrates in 2011. Del Castillo had a declared net worth of P108,904,519.37. The net worth of the rest of the SC justices for 2011 are as follows:  

• Antonio Carpio - P79,895,025.57
• Bienvenido Reyes - P75,146,199
• Estela Perlas-Bernabe  -  P67,101,327
• Roberto Abad  -  P42,100,000
• Jose Mendoza  -  P27,408,152.36
• Diosdado Peralta  -  P22,642,264.73
• Martin Villarama, Jr  -  P19,074,165.20
• Lucas Bersamin  -  P18,811,447.87
• Jose Perez  -  P  9,380,000
• Teresita De Castro  -  P  7,941,000
• Presbitero Velasco, Jr.  -  P  7,264,064

It was not immediately clear whether the respective declared net worth by the rest of the justices were baseline or annual declaration only. — LBG, GMA News