CASE 2018-0014: REPUBLIC VS. MA LOURDES P.A. SERENO (G.R. NO. 237428, 19 JUNE 2018, TIJAM J.) (RESOLUTION ON THE MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION) SUBECT/S; MEANING OF INTEGRITY) (BRIEF TITLE: REPUBLIC VS SERENO)

 

DISPOSITIVE:

 

‘WHEREFORE, respondent Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno’s Ad Cautelam Motion for Reconsideration is DENIED with FINALITY for lack of merit. No further pleadings shall be entertained. Let entry of judgment be made immediately.

 

The Court REITERATES its order to the Judicial and Bar Council to commence the application and nomination process for the position of the Chief Justice without delay. The ninety-day (90) period83 for filling the vacancy shall be reckoned from the date of the promulgation of this Resolution.

 

SO ORDERED.”

 

SUBJECTS/DOCTRINES/DIGEST:

 

WHAT IS INTEGRITY?

 

Integrity contemplates both adherence to the highest moral standards and obedience to laws and legislations.

 

RESPONDENT ARGUES THAT HER ALLEGED FAILURE TO FILE SALNs DOES NOT MEAN SHE HAS NO INTEGRITY BECAUSE THE SALN LAWS ARE MALUM PROHIBITUM AND DO NOT CONCERN ADHERENCE TO MORAL AND ETHICAL PRINCIPLES. IS RESPONDENT CORRECT?

 

RESPONDENT IS NOT CORRECT.

 

“Respondent’s argument, however, dangerously disregards that the filing of SALN is not only a requirement under the law, but a positive duty required from every public officer or employee, first and foremost by the Constitution. 80 The SALN laws were passed in aid of the enforcement of the Constitutional duty to submit a declaration under oath of one’s assets, liabilities, and net worth. This positive Constitutional duty of filing one’s SALN is so sensitive and important that it even shares the same category as the Constitutional duty imposed upon public officers and employees to owe allegiance to the State and the Constitution. 81 As such, offenses against the SALN laws are not ordinary offenses but violations of a duty which every public officer and employee owes to the State and the Constitution. In other words, the violation of SALN laws, by itself, defeats any claim of integrity as it is inherently immoral to violate the will of the legislature and to violate the Constitution.

 

Integrity, as what this Court has defined in the assailed Decision, in relation to a judge’s qualifications, should not be viewed separately from the institution he or she represents. Integrity contemplates both adherence to the highest moral standards and obedience to laws and legislations. Integrity, at its minimum, entails compliance with the law.

 

In sum, respondent has not presented any convincing ground that would merit a modification or reversal of Our May 11, 2018 Decision. Respondent, at the time of her application, lacked proven integrity on account of her failure to file a substantial number of SALNs and also, her failure to submit the required SALNs to the JBC during her application for the position.. . .”

  

TO READ THE DECISION, JUST CLICK/DOWNLOAD THE FILE BELOW.

 

SCD-2018-0014-Republic of the Philippines Vs. Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno

 

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