MANILA: Supreme Court (SC) justices have rejected a request from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to look into their assets.
In a resolution promulgated on June 17 and released last week, the high court rejected the request of BIR Commissioner Kim Henares to obtain copies of the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) of the justices.
The high court cited “lack of sufficient basis” in rejecting the request, but did not elaborate.
A member of the high court, who asked not be named, explained that the request was rejected for being unnecessary.
“There is already a mechanism in place for release of the SALNs. Also, we have already released them to the public. That’s now open to scrutiny,” the magistrate said.
Henares earlier said the BIR intends to determine whether the magistrates of the high court had paid the right taxes.
Henares argued that everyone in government service should file and provide copies of their SALNs upon request.
This developed while the executive branch is perceived to be attacking the high tribunal following its recent ruling declaring portions of Malacañang’s Disbursement Acceleration Programme (DAP) as illegal.
The SC, for its part, had released earlier this month the SALNs of the justices for 2013, which were published on June 10.
The SALNs of the justices were released for the first time after 20 years in August 2012, some two months after the high court laid down guidelines for releasing the SALNs of judges and justices.
The high court decided to make public the SALNs of the justices following the impeachment of former chief justice Renato Corona, who was found guilty of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust on accusations that he did not declare millions worth of properties in his SALN.
In previous years, the assets of SC justices were not released under the May 2, 1989 resolution where magistrates unanimously ruled to deny the request of petitioner Jose Alejandrino for release of their SALNs.
The high court stood by the previous rule with another resolution in 1992, 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.”
THE PHILIPPINE STAR
