Senators in SALN mode hold Philippine envoy to Syria
Senators showed more mercy to a diplomat, who failed to declare a condominium unit in the United States in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), a day after convicting Chief Justice Renato Corona of a similar offense.
Nestor Padalhin, appointed ambassador to Syria, was given until next week to correct his SALN. Other than that, Padalhin would then be confirmed.
It was Senator Francis Escudero, acting chairman of the foreign relations committee of the Commission on Appointments, who asked Padalhin about the condo unit in the United States.
Padalhin’s voice suddenly quivered when he confirmed the ownership.
The ambassador explained that he was still paying for a monthly mortgage of $1,500 that would be completed in 10 years.
Seattle property
The property was bought in 1992 while Padalhin was a consul assigned in Seattle.
Padalhin said that since there was a balance of “more than $100,000,” he does not consider the property an asset yet.
A property, even when bought on installment, must be declared as an asset and reflected in one’s SALN, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said.
“Put a liability corresponding to the unpaid balance of your total price. Once you buy the property and you make a down payment. It’s already your property,” the Senate President said.
“That’s why you people are caught in a net of problems! I suggest that you correct your SALN so that you’ll not be asked questions like this one,” he said.
“Yes, Sir, from now on,” the diplomat sheepishly replied.
Down payment
Enrile said the $5,000 down payment that Padalhin paid served as his equity.
“You balance your loan with your equity, that’s your net worth,” Enrile said.
Representative Rodolfo Antonino, a member of the Commission on Appointments, supported Enrile’s position.
In envoy’s name
Antonino said that if the condo unit’s title was already under Padalhin’s name, he was already allowed to “sell it tomorrow or improve the property. You can do many things as the true and actual owner.”
Padalhin said the noninclusion of the unit in his SALN was a “mistaken notion” that he would immediately correct.
Corona’s conviction reaffirmed at least two principles in public service—that there is a certain standard by which every public official has to live by and that the same standard must be applied equally to all, regardless of their position in government, according to Speaker Feliciano Belmonte.
Belmonte on Tuesday night said that members of the House of Representatives would adhere to the same high standard of transparency and public accountability they demanded of Corona, who was removed from office for nondisclosure of his true wealth
“The message is very strong—that people have high expectations from people in government—and the Chief Justice’s conviction proved that these institutions work,” he said.
Asked if members of the House would sign a waiver on bank accounts and assets to allow the media and people to check the correctness of the entries in their SALNs, Belmonte said he was not against it and would discuss this with his colleagues.
Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr., who served as chief prosecutor in the impeachment trial of Corona, said that signing a waiver would not be a problem for other prosecutors.
Tupas said he had minimal foreign currency deposits which he converted into pesos when he declared his cash in his SALN.
Fariñas’ $6,000
Ilocos Norte Representative Rodolfo Fariñas, the deputy House prosecutor, said he kept $6,000 in a bank which he converted into pesos when he declared his cash in his SALN.
“I’m not in the habit of saving dollars because of the fluctuating exchange rate. That you can check with the bank,” he said.
Ifugao Representative Teddy Baguilat was the first House member to heed Corona’s call for House members to also sign a waiver on their bank accounts in the spirit of transparency.
A party-list bloc in the House on Wednesday signed waivers on bank accounts and assets for those who want to examine them. The bloc is composed of Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Gabriela, Kabataan and Alliance of Concerned Teachers.
In their joint statement, the bloc members said that as signatories to the Corona impeachment complaint, they felt that it was their duty and moral obligation to set an example by complying with the constitutional mandate on public office as a public trust. They challenged President Aquino to do the same.
“We likewise demand that President Aquino apply the same zeal he had in going after Corona in pursuing plunder, ill-gotten wealth and other cases of graft and corruption and human rights violations against (former) President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other conspirators,” they said.
While House leaders hemmed and hawed on disclosing their wealth to the public, Minority Leader Danilo Suarez said members of the minority bloc, including Arroyo, would disclose their SALNs and bank accounts.
Suarez, the 10th richest House member with P179 million in net worth, signed the waiver on his SALN at a press conference yesterday morning and expressed his willingness to issue a waiver on his peso deposits. He said he had no dollar accounts.
Suarez said that Arroyo, who has been detained in a suite at Veterans Memorial Medical Center since last November, had been consulted on the minority’s planned waiver and that she did not object.
“I don’t see any problem with the [former] President in signing a waiver,” Suarez said. “ I will still confirm it with her (signing waiver on bank documents).”
Suarez, whose assets include two Euro helicopters that cost $3.5 million each, said his waiver would allow anyone a copy of his latest and previous SALNs upon submission of a written request.
