LAWYER Larry Gadon will file a criminal case before the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday against Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno for failing to file her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) when she was a full-time professor at the University of the Philippines (UP).

In a press conference in Quezon City on Thursday, Gadon, who filed an impeachment case against Sereno, said that the Chief Justice only filed her SALN twice during her stay in UP — in 1998 and in 2002.

Gadon said that Sereno started teaching in UP in 1995 until 2006.

Gadon said that his filing of a criminal case against Sereno would stop the prescriptive period against her and that even if the impeachment trial in the House of Representatives was still ongoing, the case would be rolling.

Gadon said that even part-time professors issue their SALNs.

“It is very easy to prove the case for the probable cause because there is already a certification issued by UP’s resource directorate,” Gadon said.

Gadon added that he would not file the criminal case before the Office of the Ombudsman even if it was common practice since he “does not trust [former President Benigno Aquino 3rd’s]lapdog, Conchita Carpio Morales”.

If the DOJ refers the case to the Ombudsman, Marquez will be retired, Gadon said.

Marquez is set to step down from her post in July.

In his impeachment complaint, Gadon accused Sereno of culpable violation of the Constitution for misdeclaring her SALN in connection with her earnings from the time she became part of the team of private lawyers that represented the government in an arbitration case in Singapore against the Philippine International Air Terminals Co., Inc. (Piatco). RALPH EDWIN U. VILLANUEVA