Starting next week, the Office of the Ombudsman will make the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) of all government officials — including those of President Marcos and Vice President Duterte – accessible to the public.
“I want the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) to be open to the public,” said newly appointed Ombudsman Jesus Crispin C. Remulla during the first day of his seven-year term.
He also declared: “Let’s go all the way. Pati kami, kasama kami lahat d’yan.”
However, Remulla said the OMB will still be careful about the information being shared as he does not want the SALNs to be “weaponized” by those who are requesting access.
He said that certain information will be redacted from the SALNs in order to protect the privacy of the officials involved.
Remulla’s decision on the SALN issue reversed his predecessor’s (retired Ombudsman Samuel R. Martires) stringent guidelines regarding the public’s access to SALNs of government officials.
During the time of Martires, the public and members of the media were able to request the SALNs of certain government officials by writing formal letters of request before the OMB.
However, in 2020 Martires signed a memorandum circular entitled “Amended Guidelines on Public Access to SALN of Business Interests and Financial Connections Filed Within the Office of the Ombudsman.”
“No SALN will be furnished to the requester unless he/she presents a notarized letter of authority from the declarant allowing the release of the requested SALN,” Martires’ circular stated.
The circular also stated that “if the person requesting is not the declarant or the declarant’s duly authorized representative, but has [a] notarized letter of authority from the declarant allowing [the] release of the requested SALN, he/she shall be required to present two original valid ID’s, one of which is a government issued ID bearing the requester’s picture and signature.”
With Martires’ circular, the SALNs of public officials, including that of former president Rodrigo Duterte and former vice president Leni Robredo, have become a closed book to those who requested it.
While Remulla admitted that he has not talked with President Marcos on the issue of SALN, he said the President has given him “a free hand to do what I have to do to fix the mess we’re in.”
At the same time, Remulla said he has plans to reinstate a resident Ombudsman in every government agency to serve as checks and balances for government officials and employees.
He said a resident Ombudsman works within a government agency to educate them about anti-corruption efforts and public assistance. They will also monitor the activities being conducted by every department and ensure that no corruption activities will take place, he also said. (Czarina Ong Ki)
