Carpio rationalizes this by arguing that justices in the Philippines are relatively overworked, with each justice expected to issue 66 decisions in a given year. He even compared this workload with that of the US Supreme Court where each justice handles on the average only nine cases per year. More importantly, the fact that Justice Carpio and four of his other colleagues had zero backlogs during the time of their retirement, is clear evidence that it is doable. Justice Carpio impressed this on us when he said that the allegation of failure to file Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) could no longer be used against Justice Leonen because the alleged offense had prescribed. Thus, granted that the allegations are true, Leonen would escape the fate that befell the ousted chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Source: Manila Times December 16, 2020 16:39 UTC