The existing restrictions on the release to the public of the individual statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. (PBBM) and any of his Cabinet officials will not be lifted any time soon. As far as Malacañang is concerned. Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin maintains these restrictions are necessary safeguards to ‘control’ access to SALNs as these might fall into the wrong hands with malicious motives.
Under existing laws of the land, all government officials and employees must submit completed forms of SALN before April 30 each year. The SALN submission is specifically required under Republic Act (RA) 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees in the Philippines. It was signed into law on Feb. 20, 1989 by the late president Corazon Aquino.
To wit, Section 8 of RA 6713: ‘Statements and Disclosure. – Public officials and employees have an obligation to accomplish and submit declarations under oath of, and the public has the right to know, their assets, liabilities, net worth and financial and business interests including those of their spouses and of unmarried children under eighteen (18) years of age living in their households.’
Then, how come these officials refuse to respect the right of the people to check SALNs over fears it can be ‘weaponized’ supposedly against the declarants? The letter and intent of this law is precisely to detect the corrupt and grafters before they could further enrich themselves in public office. Thus, the SALN is a tool intended as an alert system against suspicious increase in wealth of our state-paid individuals.
That is, if the declarations in the SALNs are truthful.
For the President, the Vice President and all other impeachable officials, their respective SALNs are submitted annually to the Office of the Ombudsman. Justices and judges all over the country must submit theirs to the Clerk of Court of the Supreme Court (SC). The officials of constitutional bodies must submit their SALNs to the ombudsman as well. For Cabinet officials, their SALNs are filed with the Office of the Executive Secretary (OES). All other national executive officials must submit SALNs to the Office of the President.
For the senators and Congress members, they must submit their SALNs to the Senate secretariat and the House secretary-general, respectively. As of last Monday, Senate president Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III led the first five senators who voluntarily gave one after the other copies of their respective SALNs to media. Thirteen other senators authorized the Senate secretary to release theirs to media yesterday. On the other hand, the House minority bloc so far were the early birds to provide their SALNs for public scrutiny.
All other public officials and employees, as defined in RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, must submit their SALNs to the Civil Service Commission (CSC). Last Monday, the CSC revised the guidelines on SALN submission.
Among the key features of the updated guidelines is the ‘digitalized filing and submission of the SALN,’ which includes the procedure for online oath-taking, online filing and digital submission to the repository agencies starting next year.
‘These updates consolidate and streamline existing CSC policies on SALN filing, review and access – ensuring a clearer, more straightforward and more efficient process that promotes greater clarity and uniformity in implementation across government agencies,’ the CSC cited.
Since RA 6713 was first implemented during Mrs. Aquino’s administration all the way to the first term of then president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, we were even able to get hard copies of the SALNs. For no apparent reason, Malacañang has since then controlled the release of SALNs in tabulated form that contained only the reported total assets, total liabilities and net worth.
In so many words, Bersamin expressed strongest reservations against relaxing the rules of public access to this document. He reiterated existing rules that the release of individual SALN of any government official and employee must be done through formal request letters. Among other matters, the letter sender must state why and for what legal purpose the copy of the SALN will be used.
Bersamin shrugged off news that several senators and other Congress members have already voluntarily released copies of their individual SALNs, albeit all redacted. He justified the ‘privacy’ rights of SALN declarants must be balanced with the public’s right to know. He warned not all those demanding easy access to SALNs have noble intentions in their supposed wish for greater transparency in governance.
A retired Chief Justice, Bersamin echoed sentiments of his erstwhile colleagues in the Supreme Court (SC) on the SALN being ‘weaponized’ in politics and not as a tool for good governance. He particularly recalled how the SALN of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona was used in the impeachment trial and led to the ouster of his predecessor at the SC.
The Executive Secretary, let’s call him ES for brevity’s sake, is the so-called ‘little president,’ or the primus inter pares, or first among equals among Cabinet officials who are all alter egos of the President. As the highest ranking alter ego of the President, the ES usually heads the Cabinet caretaker committee whenever PBBM goes abroad.
‘We do not have a denial of access. But we must control the access… The purpose must be legitimate because we do not like the SALN to be a weapon,’ Bersamin told reporters before PBBM left for Malaysia last Saturday.
Bersamin should realize by now that matters reaching his desk should not be all about what is legal and what is constitutional. The ES must also take in the popular sentiments and the public pulse in decision-making because the President is the highest elected official of the land.
For the past three years, Bersamin has gone through all these annual SALNs of fellow Cabinet officials. The SALN is the best detection tool against those enriching themselves illegally in their offices in government.
Prevention against corruption is better than investigation of ill-gotten wealth.