Casiño, Colmenares submit waivers to Ombudsman

MANILA, Philippines — Bayan Muna Representatives Teddy Casiño and Neri Colmenares on Tuesday submitted to the Ombudsman the unconditional waivers on their bank accounts.

Casiño said that the ouster of Chief Justice Renato Corona showed that declaring one’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) was “simply not enough.”

He said that the waiver only authorized the Ombudsman to examine the contents of their bank accounts.

Casiño also did not buy some lawmakers’ apprehensions that disclosure of their SALN would leave them vulnerable to political attacks.

“This is mandated by law. The SALN should be disclosed to friend or foe alike. That’s what transparency is all about. So what if the information is used by one’s rivals? As long as the SALN is truthful there is nothing to fear,” he said.

Corona earlier told the Senate impeachment court that he would sign an unconditional waiver on his bank accounts if the Senator Franklin Drilon and the 188 lawmakers who lodged the complaint against him would do the same.

He later offered his waiver without waiting for the lawmakers’ waivers but it was ignored by the House prosecution team which said it was no longer necessary as the trial was drawing to a close.