Ombudsman can’t force public officials to file SALN – Rep. Abante

Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. (File photo from his Facebook account)

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Ombudsman can’t compel public officials to file their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) as noncompliance does not carry any criminal liability, according to Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr.

Abante offered this opinion, which he said based on his conversation with Ombudsman Samuel Martires, during the plenary debates on the budget at the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Abante made it clear that he had been giving his SALN every year.

“Why? Because that is my prerogative. I think it is a prerogative of our president and anyone else in government to submit their SALN

“And second, the [Office of the] Ombudsman cannot force our public officials to submit their SALN. I asked him [referring to Martires]. He told me that the submission of the SALN carries no criminal liability. Nobody gets jailed for not submitting a SALN,” Abante said speaking in a mix of English and Filipino.

“Nobody pays a penalty for not submitting a SALN. This has no criminal liability. This is what we call ministerial on the part of public officials that they should be honest in presenting their SALN,” he added.

SALNs used to stir controversy

Abante said this after Rep. France Castro of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers party-list asked again why the Office of the Ombudsman insisted on not releasing SALNs although anyone ask for them under the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

Section 8 of that law states:“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”.

That law — Republic Act No. 6713 — covers all “public officials and employees, except those who serve in an honorary capacity, laborers and casual or temporary workers.”

But in September 2020, Martires issued a memorandum circular that limited the access of SALNs to the declarant and to officers conducting investigations.

He noted that some people use the SALNs to stir controversy about a public official. His circular, he said, was in accordance with the same law.

Martires was referring to the same Section 8, which also states: “It shall be unlawful for any person to obtain or use any statement filed under this Act for any purpose contrary to morals or public policy.”

A year after issuing the memo, Martires proposed imposing jail terms on people commenting on government officials’ SALN. He said he himself had been a victim of media outfits reporting and allegedly making commentaries on his SALN without clarifying matters with him

According to his SALN, he earned P15 million in just three months.

Martires said he would be willing to be removed from office rather than release SALNs.

SALNs have been considered crucial to identifying possible graft and corruption. It would show whether an official’s wealth and liabilities correspond to his or her salary and other ventures while in office.

In 2012, then Chief Justice Renato Corona, who died in 2016, was impeached. His SALN was used as primary evidence that he had amassed ill-gotten wealth while in office.

At the time that Martires was defending his circular in 2020, his office denied the request of a group of lawyers to obtain a copy of the SALN of then President Rodrigo Duterte.

In Tuesday’s plenary debates, Abante assured Castro that Duterte had filed his SALN in all the years he was president. He added that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had also filed his SALN.

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