Even village heads must bare their SALNs in Senate FOI bill

MANILA, Philippines—Barangay (village) chairpersons, including those in remote areas, aren’t exempt from uploading their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth  (SALNs) on the Internet under the Senate’s version of the freedom of information (FOI) bill.

Senate Bill No. 1733 mandates the President down to members of constitutional commissions and offices to upload their SALNs on their official websites.

The bill likewise requires every government agency to post the SALNs, as well as the monthly income of all public officials with Salary Grade 27 and above or heads of office.

While barangay chairpersons aren’t covered by the salary grade system, they are heads of office, and hence are required to disclose their SALNs, said Sen. Grace Poe, sponsor of the key legislation that grants public access to government records.

Twenty-one senators voted to approve the bill on the floor last Monday.

“The barangay chairs are not part of the pay grade system but they’re heads of office. So they’re still included in our version. They should disclose their SALNs,” Poe said in an interview.

An association of barangay chairs will be in charge of uploading their SALNs on their website, she said.

Nondisclosure of his peso and dollar accounts in his SALN cost then Chief Justice Renato Corona his job in 2012. Corona was convicted by the Senate sitting as an impeachment court in May 2012.

Apart from the President, the bill mandates the Vice President, Cabinet members, senators and representatives, justices, constitutional commission members, and military officers of general and flag rank to comply with Section 17, Article 11, of the Constitution.

This states that a public officer shall submit a declaration under oath of his assets, liabilities and net worth upon assuming office.

SB 1733 imposes a penalty of imprisonment from one to six months and a fine of P10,000 to P100,000 on any government official or employee who conceals information that is subject to disclosure.

Malacañang balked at the President certifying the bill as urgent, deferring to the public to pressure the representatives to follow the senators’ lead in approving it.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. vowed the House version of the bill would be passed during his term, which ends in 2016.

The Senate took less than a year to pass the measure in the first regular session of the 16th Congress. The House has between now and June 2016 to do this.

The FOI bill was passed by the Senate in the 15th and 14th Congress, but it failed to hurdle deliberations in the House.

Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano had said it was now imperative that the House pass the measure.

“In a time when our citizenry is already so sick of corruption, abuse of power and deception, we need to pass a measure that would ensure our people a government that is truly for the people,” he said.

Poe had said she was more worried about the passage of a weak FOI law than its non-approval by Congress.

The bill recognizes every citizen’s right to access information of public concern in a government agency.

It covers all agencies and puts the burden on these offices to prove by “clear and convincing evidence” that the information requested falls under the exceptions.

The exceptions include information pertaining to national security and foreign affairs; minutes of decision-making or policy formulation; information on internal and external defense, and information on human security; drafts of orders, resolutions, decisions and audit reports.