Senator Honasan calls for lifestyle check on prominent individuals

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Gregorio Honasan wants the government to do a lifestyle check not only on government officials but also on prominent individuals in public and private sectors.

“If possible, we should also have a lifestyle check on prominent public or private individuals or entities,” Honasan said over the phone on Monday.

“Ano ang sources of income nila? Ano ang kotse mo? Bakit may ganito kang bahay? (What’s their source of income? What car do you drive? How come you have this kind of house?) These are the questions that we should ask,” he said.

Honasan said the conduct of lifestyle check not only on government officials would only show a “uniform and consistent” application of the law.

“Anong karapatan mong magreklamo sa corruption kung ayaw mo ring sumailalim sa lifestyle check? Yung possible violation of rights, I think, is not going to happen. Sinasabi lang natin na dapat may konting accountabilility sa lifestyle natin (What right do you have to complain about corruption when you yourself refuse to be subjected to a lifestyle check? The possible violation of rights, I think, is not going to happen. What we are saying is that there should be some accountability on our lifestyle),” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, in a separate text message sent to reporters, Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III wants the government to also run after officials of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the Bureau of Customs and state-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor).

Honasan also backed Sotto’s proposal though he said it would be better if the lifestyle check would be applied to all other government officials and not only on those three agencies.

But Honasan said he understood why Sotto was particular of the three agencies because these are the biggest revenue generating agencies of government.

“The BIR and Customs are used to fund the government while Pagcor is the source of the President’s social fund,” he said.

Honasan also noted the abused of authority during the previous administration of Pagcor.