Sereno to release SALN?

NEWLY APPOINTED SUPREME COURT Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno has reportedly ordered the full disclosure of her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN), according to two news websites.

The online portals of ABS-CBN News and the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that Sereno made the announcement to her fellow justices in Tuesday’s en banc hearing of the Supreme Court.

However, Supreme Court spokesperson Atty. Gleo Guerra could not confirm the reports. Guerra said the office of Chief Justice Sereno was supposed to draft a press statement Tuesday afternoon, but was not able to finish the statement on time.

Guerra said Sereno’s office will release a statement on Wednesday morning instead. “We cannot confirm or deny this report,” Guerra said. “Nothing was conveyed to us to that effect. We will have to rely (on Sereno’s statement.)”

The Inquirer reported that Sereno had informed the other justices of her plan to disclose her SALN during her first en banc session as chief magistrate.

ABS-CBN in turn reported that Sereno had decided not to wait for full compliance by applicants with a June 13 resolution issued by the Supreme Court setting strict prerequisites from applicants for the release of any SALN of any member of the court.

Prior to this, Sereno had only released summaries of the data that she enrolled in her SALN, according to a report released by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism earlier this week entitled Will the Gods of Padre Faura Bare SALNs at last?

A second report released by the PCIJ earlier today (Tuesday) entitled SC discloses zero SALNs 3 months after Corona trial had pointed to the failure of the Supreme Court to release SALNs of any of its justices three months after the impeachment and conviction of its former chief magistrate, Renato Corona.

But another report published by GMA Network‘s online portal states that Sereno has decided to decline all requests for media interviews in order to bring the court back to its “golden days of dignified silence.”

Sereno was quoted as saying that this would “minimize susceptibility to misinterpretation.”