SC blocks attempt to secure Leonen’s SALN to declare quo warranto

MANILA – The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a request from attorney Lorenzo Gadon and the Attorney General’s Office to secure the statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) of SC Associate Judge Marvic Leonen for a possible request for a quo warranto.

“I would like to confirm that the Supreme Court in today’s En Banc session unanimously decided to deny the request of the Office of the Attorney General and Prosecutor. Lorenzo G. Gadon to obtain copies of the SALN and other related information from SC Marvic Associate Judge Mario Victor F. Leonen, for the purpose of preparing a Quo Warranto petition, ”SC spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka said in a statement.

“Judge Leonen did not participate in the resolution,” he added.

No reasons were given for the denial of the requests. Hosaka said it’s best to wait for the written order.

WHAT LEADED TO GOVERN

Gadon, who filed an impeachment complaint against the ousted Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, wrote to the Attorney General’s Office on September 7, urging it to investigate Leonen’s SALN, invoking similarities to Sereno’s impeachment.

“If Sereno was ousted from the Supreme Court for lack of integrity, as exemplified by her failure to file SALNs at UP for many years, then there is no reason why the same standard should not be applied to AJ Leonen,” she said in the lyrics.

“Therefore, I respectfully urge and request the Attorney General’s Office to initiate a Quo Warranto process against AJ Leonen,” he added.

He also submitted a SALN application from Leonen from 1990 to 2011 to the South Carolina Clerk of Court on September 9.

Gadon said the Supreme Court had previously given him copies of Sereno’s SALNs in 2017, which became one of the reasons for his impeachment lawsuit against Sereno.

SC’s ruling on Tuesday is the first confirmation that OSG acted on Gadon’s request by making a similar request for Leonen’s SALN.

SC sources said the letter from GSO indicated the purpose of the request: the preparation of a petition quo warranto, as Hosaka said in its announcement.

Attorney General José Cálida actively sought Sereno’s removal by initiating the quo warranto petition. He once claimed his overthrow as his “legacy” to Philippine jurisprudence.

LINK: https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/28/19/calida-touts-sereno-ouster-as-legacy-other-triumphs-in-3-years-as-solgen

Sereno was removed from office through a never-before-seen quo warranto petition that questions the qualifications of a public office holder.

While it was previously thought that acting SC judges would be removed by impeachment alone, Sereno’s ruling paved the way for a new method, one in which justices will have a chance to vote on the fate of their colleague.

In Sereno’s case, the SC voted 8-6 to remove her as president of the Supreme Court, and 9 judges believed that she violated SALN requirements.

LINK: https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/11/18/supreme-court-ousts-chief-justice-sereno

Meanwhile, the late president of the court, Renato Corona, was removed from office for failing to declare about $ 2.4 million in bank deposits. A separate account amounting to 80.7 million pesetas supposedly mixed with family members was also excluded from their SALN.

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/13/18/serenos-saln-case-different-from-coronas-law-expert-says

TE: SC FOLLOWS FROM QUO WARRANTO

Former SC spokesman Theodore Te believes Tuesday’s unanimous vote could be a sign that the high court is moving away from removing a fellow justice.

“[T]The unanimous vote, the speed of the action (no comment, just deny) and the brevity of the resolution may indicate that the Court is moving from Quo Warranto as a method to remove a member of the Court, ”he said in a message. to ABS-CBN News.

The unanimous vote of the superior court to reject the SALN application for Leonen and other records differs from the SC’s grant in 2017 of the document request submitted by Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) and Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution, Inc. ( VPCI)) to support the accusation complaint against Sereno.

However, these documents did not include SALN.

LINK: https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/08/17/sc-grants-request-for-documents-on-sereno-impeachment-complaint

Several justices also testified before the House Justice committee against the ousted Chief Justice, alleging that Sereno violated the principle of collegiality and internal rules. Two of them, then associate judges Lucas Bersamin and Diosdado Peralta, eventually became head judges.

LINK: https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/16/18/sereno-violated-internal-rules-2-sc-justices-say

But it tells you that Leonen’s case cannot be directly compared to Sereno’s.

“You may recall that the House was hearing impeachment complaints, not the Court yet; and the records were requested by the House, not by anyone else. The QW came forward while the House heard the complaints. The Court granted the requests of the Chamber ”, he explained.

“[T]no Quo Warranto was presented here, but that the SC has already acted to deny the requests, clearly designed for a Quo Warranto petition, may be a signal for SolGen to move forward, ”he said.

He told you that Sereno’s expulsion through the quo warranto petition was “pro hac vice” or just for that occasion.

Legal experts and even dissident judges warned of the dire consequences of the Sereno quo warranto ruling. Associate judge Alfredo Benjamín Caguioa described it as “seppuku without honor” and Leonen himself described it as a “legal abomination”.

LINK: https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/12/18/without-honor-in-dissent-caguioa-hits-majority-ruling-to-oust-sereno

LINK: https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/05/11/18/leonen-serenos-ouster-via-quo-warranto-legal-abomination