Del Castillo remains richest among SC justices

Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo did not only remain as the richest among the 15 magistrates of the Supreme Court in 2013, but his wealth also grew the most—by P12 million—in a span of one year.

Based on the magistrate's Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN), Del Castillo declared a wealth of P122,217,723.13 in 2013, up from his 2012 wealth of P109,743,118.28.

Meanwhile, Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the most junior member of the SC, was the poorest with P1,817,706.75 net worth, slighty up from 2012's P1,674,623.22.

Copies of the SALNs were given upon the request of several media companies.

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno's wealth grew by a little under P1 million from P18,143,104.01 to P19,012,648.21.

The wealth of the rest of the magistrates as of 2013 were as follows:

P84,309,762.57 - Antonio Carpio
P78,274,991.00 - Bienvenido Reyes
P74,633,410.00 - Estela Perlas-Bernabe
P47,300,000.00 - Roberto Abad (who retired last May)
P32,438,231.25 - Diosdado Peralta
P31,578,801.43 - Jose Mendoza
P27,818,400.00 - Lucas Bersamin
P24,071,521.84 - Martin Villarama
P16,599,909.00 - Arturo Brion
P13,599,000.00 - Jose Perez
P10,416,000.00 - Teresita Leonardo-De Castro
P10,385,089.49 - Presbitero Velasco.

The SC started releasing the SALNs of justices in 2012 after the ouster of then-Chief Justice Renato Corona, who was convicted by a Senate impeachment court for hiding at least P200 million he earned while in public office.

Over the years, SC justices have been able to keep their SALNs a secret, citing an en banc resolution issued on May 2, 1989 preventing such disclosure.

The 1989 resolution stemmed from a petition filed by a certain Jose Alejandrino seeking the disclosure of the SALNs of the SC justices. The tribunal unanimously ruled to deny the request.

The high court explained it had to deny the petition to prevent the SALNs from being used "to fish for information and... to influence a decision or to warn the court of the unpleasant consequences of an adverse judgment.”

The high court stressed that SALN requests should be made in good faith and for legitimate purpose.

“The independence of the Judiciary is constitutionally as important as the right to information which is subject to the limitations provided by law,” the SC said.

In 1992, the SC issued another resolution reiterating its 1989 decision, saying it wanted to protect justices and judges from acts that may “endanger, diminish or destroy their independence and objectivity in the performance of their judicial functions.” —Mark Merueñas/KBK, GMA News