THE OFFICE of the Ombudsman is a constitutional body which has the power to implement laws relating to public officers. One of these is the public access for a copy of the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) Form of a government official or employee.
The Civil Service Commission (CSC), through its Freedom of Information, defines SALN as the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth of a government official or employee. It is the disclosure of financial connections or business interests and identification of relatives within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity. Further, it also requires the declarant to name his or her bilas, balae, and inso who are in government service.
The law that governs the filing of the SALN form is Republic Act No. 6713 otherwise known as the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.
“The purpose of SALN is to promote transparency in the civil service and to establish a deterrent against government officials bent on enriching themselves through unlawful means.” (Estrella Abid-Babano vs. Executive Secretary, G.R. No. 201176, 28 August 2019)
Can the public request for a copy of the SALN form?
Yes, as long as the requesting party complies with the rules governing access to SALNs provided by the repository agency.
This is the issue faced by the Office of the Ombudsman for the past weeks. The Ombudsman is the repository agency responsible for the SALNs of the President, Vice President and the Constitutional Officials like the Chairpersons of the Commission on Audit (COA), Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Civil Service Commission (CSC), commissioners of COA, Comelec and CSC, and Ombudsman and his Deputies.
The Ombudsman is responsible for the SALN of the President.
Interested parties wrote a formal communication to the Ombudsman requesting for the release of the President’s SALN. Unfortunately, latter denied the request.
It is a tradition of presidents to make their annual wealth disclosure public every year. However, President Rodrigo Duterte has not released his SALN. This would be the first time since the post-Marcos time.
The Ombudsman has issued new rules on SALNs. This is Memorandum Circular No. 1 Series of 2020 or the Amended Guidelines of Public Access to Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth and Disclosure of Business Interests and Financial Connections Filed with the Office of The Ombudsman.
A copy of the SALN will be furnished to the requester if he or she is the declarant or the duly authorized representative of the declarant; the request is upon lawful order of the court in relation to a pending case; and the request is made by the Ombudsman’s Filed Investigation Office for the purpose of conducting fact-finding investigation.
According to the said circular, “all requests to inspect or to take picture of the SALN will be denied.”
The Ombudsman is firm that the SALN of President Duterte will never be released even from the previous years.
Restricting public access to SALNs may result to abuse since government officials and employees may not be scrutinized when it comes to their wealth and possible corruption.
But it should be noted that the highest law of the land, the 1987 Philippine Constitution, provides under Section 1, Article 11 that a “public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.”
Additionally, Section 17 of the same law states that: “A public officer or employee shall, upon assumption of office and as often thereafter as may be required by law, submit a declaration under oath of his assets, liabilities, and net worth. In the case of the President, the Vice President, the Members of the Cabinet, the Congress, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Commissions and other constitutional offices, and officers of the armed forces with general or flag rank, the declaration shall be disclosed to the public in the manner provided by law.”
Section 8 (C)(1) of RA 6713 and in its Implementing Rules and Regulations states that “any and all statements filed…shall be made available for inspection at reasonable hours.”
The people involved in this issue know and understand the intricacies of laws and definitely they know that any memo or even an executive order cannot take precedence over a law passed by Congress./PN
