President Rodrigo Duterte is not mandated to publicize his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth as the Office of the Ombudsman was tasked for such job, Malacañang said Monday.
In a press briefing, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo insisted the law did not require Duterte to personally and directly furnish a copy of his SALN since the Ombudsman was the “repository” for such documents.
“The law requires them to file their SALN. And the repository of those records is with the Ombudsman. That’s in the Ombudsman,” he said.
Last week, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism reported the government had not released the 2018 SALN of Duterte, the first time in the last 30 years.
This, despite the Chief Executive’s repeated vow for transparency.
Since the SALN Law was enacted on Feb. 20, 1989, Duterte’s predecessors had publicly disclosed their annual SALNs “without fail, year on year, via either the Office of the Ombudsman or the Office of the President,” according to the PCIJ report.
“Maybe that’s their style. This President’s style is different. But he has not transgressed any law,” Panelo said.
Panelo also said the President had complied with the required timely submission of SALN and was not hiding “anything.”
“If he is hiding anything, he would have not filed any SALN,” he told Palace reporters.
The PCIJ said in its report that the requests for SALN “have been tossed back and forth” between the Office of the Executive Secretary and the Ombudsman.
“Invariably, all such requests filed in a series from June to November 2019 were denied because of an identical reason: The Ombudsman has yet to finalize its new guidelines on the release of the SALNs of the President and other senior officials,” the report said.
The SALN is a document that government officials must accomplish and submit every year attesting under oath to their total assets and liabilities, including businesses and financial interests, that make up their net worth to be checked against corruption.