MANILA, Philippines – In the continuing back and forth on who filed all the necessary Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) and who did not, acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio has documents to prove he has complete SALNs.

“In the case of Carpio, he submitted to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) his SALNs when he was a member of the High Court from 2001-2012 but he could not complete his SALN submissions when he was Chief Presidential Legal Counsel from 1992-1996. He could only submit to the JBC his SALNs for 1992-1994,” Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s spokesperson Josa Deinla said on Tuesday, March 27.

But a letter from Carpio to the JBC in 2012 offers an explanation why Carpio has no SALN in 1995 and 1996.

“I resigned as Chief Presidential Legal Counsel effective January 31, 1996. I did not submit a SALN for the year 1995 because the submission of SALN for that year was on April 30, 1996 when I was no longer employed with the government,” Carpio told the JBC.

Minutes of the meeting show that the JBC ruled Carpio had “substantially complied” with the SALN requirement.

LOOK: Sereno team says Carpio is missing SALNs from 1995 to 1996. Attached is a letter from Carpio to the JBC explaining the reasons why he did not file SALNs in 1995 and 1996. @rapplerdotcom pic.twitter.com/obVKAW2yp2

— Lian Buan (@lianbuan) March 27, 2018

What went before? Sereno is accused of not submitting all the necessary SALNs to the JBC when she applied for chief justice in 2012.

Sereno said that 13 other chief justice applicants, including Carpio, did not submit all SALNs. Disproving Sereno, Carpio showed a JBC certification that he had on file his SALNs from 2001-2011 and from 1992-1994.

On Tuesday, Deinla said that the JBC does not require only 10 years’ worth of SALNs but all SALNs from the start of  government service. Deinla pointed out that Carpio is missing SALNs from 1995 to 1996, which has been explained by the 2012 letter to the JBC.

What else did Sereno say? Sereno also included Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro as one of the 13 justices who did not submit all SALNs.

Like Carpio, De Castro showed a certification that she submitted 15 years’ worth of SALN.

But Deinla said that De Castro has been in government service since 1973 and therefore was “bound to submit 39 SALNs” in 2012.

“However, she could only submit 15 SALNs,” Deinla said.

Deinla also said that there is no basis for saying the JBC only required 10 SALNs.

“We want to clarify that in 2012 the JBC did not merely require 10 years, but all previous SALNs up to 31 December 2011 for those in government,”  Deinla said. 

“It was Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro who first brought up the baseless 10-year SALN requirement in one of her many appearances before the House committee on justice, where she willingly testified in support of the fatally defective impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon against Sereno,” she added.

De Castro has not responded to our request for comment as of posting.

Sereno has 3 SALNs on record. She has committed to recovering the rest and presenting them to the Senate impeachment court. – Rappler.com