Solicitor General Jose Calida has assured that he will look into reports that Supreme Court (SC) Justice Marvic Leonen filed to file his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) when he was still a professor at the University of the Philippines (UP).

“The OSG (Office of the Solicitor General) takes serious note of the allegations in your letter and undertakes to study and uncover the truth behind such allegations,” read his Sept. 14 letter to lawyer Larry Gadon.

“Should it be found that the allegations against AJ Leonen are true, the OSG will not hesitate to discharge its mandate to uphold the Constitution and question before the Supreme Court the qualifications of AJ Leonen via Quo Warranto,” he assured.

Calida’s letter was in reply to Gadon’s Sept. 7 which sought the removal Leonen through the filing a quo warranto petition.

“If Sereno (ousted chief justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno) was ousted from the Supreme Court due to lack of integrity as exemplified by her non filing of SALNs (statement of assets, liabilities and net worth) in UP (University of the Philippines) for many years, then there is no reason why the same standard should not be applied to AJ Leonen,” read Gadon’s letter to Calida.

“I therefore respectfully urge and request the Office of the Solicitor General to institute Quo Warranto proceedings against AJ Leonen,” added Gadon.

Calida filed on March 5, 2018 a quo warranto petition before the SC which sought to void Sereno’s 2012 appointment at the high tribunal.

The solicitor general explained Sereno failed to submit her SALNs which was one of the requirements set by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).

The SC on May 11, 2018, the SC voted 8-6 in favor of Calida’s quo warranto case.