Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Re Request
Re Request
Re Request
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In accordance with Section 17, Article IX of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, there
is a duty on the part of the members of the judiciary to disclose their SALNs and other personal
documents, being a matter of public concern and interest, as long as it is made in the manner
provided by law.
The Court received two letters from Rowena C. Paraan and Karol M. Ilagan
requesting for copies of the Statementof Assets, Liabilities and Networth(SALN)
and the Personal Data Sheet(PDS)or the Curriculum Vitae (CV)of its Justices
for the year 2008 for the purpose of updating their database of information on
government officials. The special committee created by the Supreme Court (SC)
to review the request issued a Memorandum recommending the creation of a
Committee on Public Disclosure to take over the functions of the Office of
the Court Administrator(OCA)with respect to requests for copies of SALN
and other personal documents of members of the Judiciary. Meanwhile,several
requests for copies of theSALN and other personal documents of the Justices of
the Court, the Court of Appeals (CA) and the Sandiganbayan(SB)were filed.
ISSUE:
Whether or not the Supreme Court Justices are mandated by law to release
their SALN to the public
HELD:
Section 7 of Article III of the Constitution is relevant in the issue of public
disclosure of SALN and other documents of public officials, which provides that
the right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be
recognized.Access to official records, and to documents, and paperspertaining
to official acts, transactions,or decisions, as well as to government research data
used as basis for policy development,shall be afforded the citizen, subject to such
limitations as may be provided by law.
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120
recent jurisprudence
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