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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Let's have all SALNs out in the open

DEMAND AND SUPPLY
Let's have all SALNs out in the open
By Boo Chanco

P-Noy is right. Speaking in Pilipino before a group of students, the President said (as translated) “the question we want this trial to answer is simple: Can we still trust Mr. Corona? We can answer that by looking at some facts coming out of the trial.”

Indeed, simple folks who don’t think in terms of legal technicalities now have reasons to doubt the trustworthiness of Mr. Corona as a public official… specially as the Chief Justice ofthe Supreme Court. Legal technicalities may in the end still save Mr. Corona his job but the victory will be pyrrhic. Whatever happens now, he will be unable to lead a most vital branch of government from a moral high ground.

It isn’t just Mr. Corona’s fate that is at stake here. More importantly, the impeachment process must deliver the message that the judicial branch has to be accountable. The problem with our judiciary today is that there are enough lawyers and litigants with personal experiences on how cases are won or lost and they talk.

Gone are the days when Judges and Justices live such lives that are totally beyond reproach… taking precaution that their personal lives are such that people can respect them. Impeaching the Chief Justice serves an important warning to the judiciary that clean up time is now.

As I had written in this column, I see the impeachment process as the only means by which we, the people through our elected representatives in the Senate, can make unelected justices account for what they do or fail to do. If the senators abuse their discretion, we can vote them out of office. If the justices abuse their discretion, they have security of tenure.

That is why it bothered me when lawyers voiced the opinion that the Supreme Court can restrain the Senate in some way or another. For the principle behind the impeachment process to work, the Senate acting as the impeachment court has to be above the Supreme Court on all matters affecting impeachment cases. Otherwise, the unelected Justices will be the most powerful officials of the country because there is no recourse if they abuse their discretion to protect each other’s ass.

As it is turning out, Mr. Corona has apparently done enough to merit the loss of public trust. Take the matter of the SALNs or thesworn Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth that all public servants must execute each year. The Supreme Court made a self serving rule that it is enough for them to file it with theClerk of Court who may not grant the public any access.

Yet, in the Court’s own words the SALNs serve: “as the basis ofthe government and the people in monitoring the income and lifestyle of officials and employees in the government.” Keeping their SALNs locked up subverts that intention.

Look what happened when Mr. Corona’s SALNs saw the light of day. Can anyone now still respect Mr. Corona? Not after we found out that his annual SALNs are works of fiction. Not after we found out he has numerous bank accounts whose ending balances each year were not reflected in his sworn SALNs and furthermore, he withdrew over P30 million from some accounts on the day the House voted to impeach him. And he has refused to allow the impeachment court to look into his foreign exchange account.

Then there is something else. As an Associate Justice, Mr. Corona wrote a landmark Supreme Court decision that declared the burden of proof lies with the accused in any ill-gotten wealth case. As such, the Court should “disregard technicalities” and conclude that the assets in question were ill-gotten if their combined value was beyond the disclosed income and assets in his tax returns or statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

I understand that by defining what constituted unexplained wealth, this same Supreme Court decision penned by Justice Corona years ago made it possible for the PCGG under the leadership of the late Haydee Yorac and her associate Ruben Carranza to win their case on Marcos deposits in Swiss banks. Mr. Corona is absolutely correct to rule as he did.

It is ironic that this definition of unexplained wealth must now be applied to Mr. Corona’s case. A lowly court stenographer, who was thrown out of her job in another case by the Narvasa-led Supreme Court for failure to declare her public market stall in her SALN because she claimed she didn’t make money on it, cannot suffer a stiffer punishment than the current Chief Justice for the same transgression of incomplete disclosure.

Beyond Mr. Corona, there are lessons coming out of theimpeachment hearings that P-Noy should quickly do something about. For instance, we are unable to look into the forex accounts of Mr. Corona because of the supposedly ironclad confidentiality provision of a specific law. It should be addressed right away otherwise every rascal in government can covert ill-gotten wealth to dollars and there’s nothing we can do about it.

As I suggested last Friday, P-Noy should issue an Executive Order requiring all officials appointed by the President to sign a waiver to the secrecy provision of our banking laws. An appointment, even an ad interim one, should become effective only after thiswaiver is signed. Eventually, a law can be passed that would cover everyone who gets a salary from the government.

P-Noy must be ready to apply the same level of disclosure he is demanding from the Chief Justice to himself and his cabinet officials. P-Noy should make it immediately mandatory for every member of his official family to make their SALNs public. Maybe Manolo Quezon can post all these SALNs in the Official Gazette. No ifs and no buts.

I desperately want to believe in the Daang Matuwid of P-Noy. I am normally cynical but every time I listen to his speeches, I am encouraged that he seems single mindedly and insanely serious about dealing with our culture of corruption head on. This is insanity we badly need.

But still, I hear enough noise about how some of his high officials are betraying his and the public’s trust. If we subject the SALNs and the bank accounts of all Aquino administration officials to the same strict scrutiny the impeachment court has subjected Mr Corona’s, there will be greater credibility to P-Noy’s anti corruption drive.

That’s how to win credibility and show leadership. I hope they do it soon.

Hong Kong
Reader Jun V e-mailed this reaction to last Friday’s column.
Just a short note on your nice Hong Kong musings. Actually, the late Max Soliven felt the same way you did when he saw the disparity of the progress of our neighbors compared to us. What deepened his hurt was he saw how the Philippines was so ahead and now is left behind. About HK, he would say that before it was the Chinese who would be the maids of Filipinos and call them “amah” but now, it is the reverse.

I think we are just too smug, complacent, and no discipline as a people that’s why we have been left behind. We carry on as if it doesn’t matter at all. Perhaps, it’s defensive but it’s good that guys like you keep on bringing it up.

Lee Kwan Yew related in one of his books that he asked his staff to go around Asia and observe how Singapore can be competitive.The recommendation of his staff was for Singapore to be known for discipline. The rest is history.

Cheers and keep on splashing cold water on our faces...it might work. :-)

Justice
Listening to all those lawyers talk makes you think they actually believe what they are saying about justice. Here is something someone once said to describe what to expect when you go and face a judge.
Obscenity is whatever gives the judge an erection.

Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com He is also on Twitter @boochanco

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