Senator Franklin Drilon
MANILA, Philippines — A waiver in the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) of Chief Justice Renato Corona has allegedly authorized the Office of the Ombudsman to look into the records of government agencies, including that of the Anti-Money Laundering Council, a senator said on Tuesday.
Senator Franklin Drilon, a known administration ally, said the waiver was in the SALN form that Corona and all other government officials and employees are required to file every year.
“Yung SALN ni Chief Justice Corona, may waiver– ino-authorzied niya ang Ombudsman na tingnan lahat na record ng pamahalaan para I check kung tama ba ‘yung report niya sa SALN. May waiver doon sa SALN mismo (Corona’s SALN has a waiver, authorizing he Ombudsman to look into all records of the government to check if his report in the SALN was true. There’s a waiver in the SALN itself),” Drilon told reporters.
“The Ombudsman under that waiver is authorized to inquire into records of government agencies, that includes AMLC because AMLC is a government office,” he further said.
Drilon was reacting to questions raised at how Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales obtained a report from the AMLC, which showed that Corona allegedly owned 82 dollar accounts in five banks and “fresh deposits” of more than $12 million.
Senator Ferdinand “Bong-Bong” Marcos himself questioned how the Ombudsman managed to get the information from the AMLC without a court order.
“I think we should ask the Ombudsman is this is the new policy? Is this a new doctrine that in fact on the basis of the complaint that the Ombudsman can already gain the information from the AMLC and publicize that information?” Marcos said in a separate interview.
But Drilon said there was no need for the Ombudsman to get a court order, citing the waiver in the SALN form.
Marcos, who has been critical with the Aquino administration, shared some opinion that there was a concerted effort on the part of the government to impeach the Chief Justice.
“Well, certainly there are forces that are coming together to make sure that the Chief Justice is impeached but palagay ko wala namang magugulat kung masasabi natin na talagang tinatrabaho ng gobyerno na tanggalin si CJ (I think, no one will be surprised if we say that the government is working together to remove the Chief Justice),” he added when asked if he thinks the government has conspired against Corona.
Asked the same question, Drilon said, “Kung may conspiracy para sa katotohanan, hindi naman siguro masama ‘yun. Hindi ko alam kung merong conspiracy (If there is conspiracy for truth, there’s nothing wrong with it. I don’t know if there’s conspiracy.”