Sereno, De Castro in heated exchange as CJ insists consistently filing SALNs

BAGUIO CITY — Under tension-filled questioning from Associate Justice Teresita de Castro, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Tuesday maintained she consistently filed her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).

De Castro was the first to question Sereno at the oral arguments on Solicitor General Jose Calida's petition for quo warranto, and immediately launched into Calida's main allegation — the filing of her SALNs.

De Castro asked Sereno if she had "religiously complied" with the filing of her SALNs.

Sereno, upon prodding by Senior Associate Justice and Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio, eventually said: "Under the Doblada Doctrine, I maintain that I consistently filed my SALNs as required by law."

The Doblada case involved a court sheriff who was sued for acquiring properties that were out of proportion with his salary. The SC eventually ruled that just because his SALNs could no longer be found does not mean he failed to file them.

Sereno's invocation of the Doblada Doctrine, however, only came after a tense exchange, which included De Castro "vehemently" denying some unspecified allegations in Sereno's motion asking her to inhibit from hearing Calida's petition for quo warranto. This motion was denied on Tuesday.

"There are allegations and grounds stated which I vehemently deny and I will put that in a resolution that I will later on submit to the Court," De Castro said, also alluding to a "conversation" that the associate justice said "never happened."

"I am saying that the conversation that you mentioned in your motion for inhibition never happened and I am going to prove that," said De Castro.

‘A lot of excuses’

De Castro went on to accuse Sereno of making excuses for her alleged failure to produce her SALNs.

"You're making a lot of excuses for not being able to produce your SALN. You're blaming everyone, you're blaming the JBC (Judicial and Bar Council), you're blaming the chief justice (Renato Corona) for not calling your attention," said De Castro as she subjected Sereno to heavy questioning at the oral arguments on Solicitor General Jose Calida's petition for quo warranto.

Sereno, for part, denied she was laying the blame on others for her supposed inability to produce her SALNs.

This, after Sereno, while maintaining that she consistently filed her SALNs under the Doblada doctrine, mentioned JBC's former chief of office of selection and nomination and now Judge Richard Pascual and former chief justice Corona as she parried questions on the details of her filing of her wealth disclosures.

De Castro had asked why Sereno did not submit her SALNs to the JBC that were closer to 2012, the year she applied for chief justice, and instead reasoned out in a letter to the council that her SALNs over 15 years old were "infeasible to retrieve."

Sereno eventually said: "Because I didn’t have copies of them, Justice De Castro. I was called by Richard Pascual in the afternoon of Friday." According to her, Pascual said the last day for completing the requirement was a Monday.

"Under the situation, I had only one, no choice, I said it's not with me, it’s infeasible. Because why, what did the (UP) College of Law say? 'Ay ma'am, you're SALNs are not here in your 201 file, why don’t you write UP HRDO?' By the time I will write the HRDO, the deadline has passed, so what else am I going to say," she said.

When pressed by Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio on the same issue, Sereno said Pascual had only asked about her SALNs covering 1994 to 1999.

"I simply said I was considered as private sector when I was first appoint so that's the rule I think that will be followed, that's in my letter," she said, recalling the supposed conversation with the attorney.

Asked if Pascual did not ask for her SALNs up to 2006, she said "he did not," and affirmed Carpio's remark that Pascual had, in effect, been more interested in Sereno's older records.

The JBC required applicants for the chief justice post in 2012 to submit "all" their previous SALNs, ending in December 31, 2011, for those in government and as of the same date from those in the private sector.

But De Castro, unsatisfied with Sereno's answer, asked if it was not her "obligation" to produce her SALNs.

"Your Honor, since I started teaching, I have moved residences seven times. One of those movements was abroad, when I left all my documents with other people. I have not been a religious keeper of my UP documents," Sereno responded.

She also said the late Chief Justice Corona did not tell her she lacked SALNs: "Sana sinabihan ako ni Chief Justice Corona, walang nagsabing kulang o mali."

In her comment to Calida's petition, Sereno said she was looking for her "missing" SALNs and will produce them at a possible Senate impeachment trial, where she will also be tried for allegations that include issues over her declarations of wealth.

De Castro's disapproval

Meanwhile, Sereno was unable to produce her SALNs before the court on the day of the oral arguments, instead saying that she will produce the documents before the Senate should it convene as an impeachment court. 

De Castro was among the five SC magistrates that Sereno had earlier requested to inhibit from the quo warranto case. The high court eventually denied her plea.

De Castro has repeatedly and public expressed during congressional hearings her disapproval of Sereno's nomination and eventual appointment as chief justice. — RSJ/MDM, GMA News