President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he will make his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth accessible to the public as he urged his Cabinet to follow his lead.
The leadership of both the House of Representatives and the Senate also expressed support for the order of Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla restoring full public access to the SALNs.
Mr. Marcos said he supports a return to the “old rules” that allowed the public and media easier access to SALNs before restrictions were imposed during the Duterte administration.
“We’ll follow the old rules. These old rules were suspended in the last administration. I was quite surprised to find out when I first came into office that it was almost impossible to get a copy of the SALN. We’re just going back to the old procedure,” he said in a press briefing Wednesday.
“My SALN will be available to whoever would like to begin… If the ICI asks me, of course I will give it. If the Ombudsman asks, we will provide it,” the President said.
Asked if he would encourage his Cabinet to do the same, Mr. Marcos replied, “Yes, of course.”
Under the Constitution and Republic Act 6713, all public officials are required to file annual SALNs, but a 2020 memorandum of former Ombudsman Samuel Martires restricted access to the documents by requiring the consent of public officials for disclosure.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III and House Speaker Faustino Dy II backed the Ombudsman’s fresh directive.
Sotto said he is ready “anytime” to make his SALN available to the public and he will hold a caucus soon with his colleagues on access to their documents.
“When I was Senate President before, we allowed the access to the SALNs of the senators subject to their individual approval and so this is not new to us. The only variation is we redact the addresses of their properties,” Sotto said.
Remulla’s office earlier clarified that certain details such as the permanent address and information on minor children will be redacted to ensure compliance with the Data Privacy Act.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said there should be no issue to making their SALNs accessible to the public.
“This is one way of bringing the confidence of the public back to the government,” Gatchalian said.
Senator Bam Aquino said the policy would be “a good step to start cleansing our government” while Senator Risa Hontiveros backed the removal of the Duterte-era restrictions, which she described as “unjust, unconstitutional and anti-people.”
Senator Francis Pangilinan, for his part, said the SALN of former Ombudsman Martires should be the first to be made public.
“The SALN of former Ombudsman Martires should be released first, starting from when he sat as Supreme Court Justice up until he stepped down as Ombudsman this year. Then we might be able to find out why he was against the release of the SALN,” he
At the House, Dy said they will review their rules on the public disclosure of the SALNs of lawmakers to promote transparency and accountability, adding that he is ready to make his own SALN public to set an example.
“There are talks that the members of the House are willing (to comply). I think it’s good to talk about it. During our break, we will carefully discuss this so that we can issue a clear policy on how we can support the policy to release our SALNs,” the Speaker said.
In an interview last week, Vice President Sara Duterte said she is open to having her SALN reviewed by the new Ombudsman.
“He should not just take a look at it. He should put it in front of him and study carefully whatever he wants to do (with the information),” Duterte said.
Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said SALNs dating back from 20 years ago are covered by the new memorandum since the prescriptive period for the filing of charges against those liable for graft is 20 years.
“Since the law provides for 20 years, then that will also be the period for which you can access SALNs. So, even SALNs filed during the previous Memorandum Circular in the past administration are now open for public viewing,” he said.
“At a time when trust in institutions is tested, the best way to rebuild confidence is through openness backed by concrete access to information. This step is not about politics; it is about accountability. The public deserves proof, not promises, that integrity still has a place in public service,” Clavano added.
