Hontiveros to Marcos: Show your SALN as good leadership
President Marcos’ directive to conduct a lifestyle check on government officials would carry more weight if he himself showed the way by disclosing his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).
This was Senate Deputy Minority Leader Sen Risa Hontiveros’ challenge to Mr. Marcos even as she acknowledged that the President’s order would show good example and leadership.
“I think, this [lifestyle check] is just one of the many ways that can or should be done to show good faith to the public, especially now with the gravity of corruption issue that we have, particularly on flood control projects,” she said.
She added that lifestyle checks could help create “an environment of transparency” but this should come with what Sen. Panfilo Lacson called “negative reinforcement.”
‘Middle-class lifestyle’
In a statement last Saturday on the numerous multibillion-peso ghost flood control projects, Lacson defined the term to mean certainty of arrest, prosecution, conviction and punishment of those who wasted and used taxpayer money to line their pockets.
Hontiveros said she was willing to undergo such a scrutiny “so that everybody will be able to see my middle-class lifestyle.”
But she said that the President’s order would be more impactful if he were the first to show his SALN.
“If [President Marcos] ordered a lifestyle check, it would be a good example and leadership if it includes his own SALN,” the senator said.
Hontiveros said it should not be difficult to get a SALN since it’s a public document and covered by freedom of information.
The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives on Wednesday similarly challenged Mr. Marcos to “lead by example” and subject himself to the same lifestyle check that he had ordered.
ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio and Kabataan Rep. Renee Co said in a joint statement that Mr. Marcos “could not absolve himself from corruption investigations simply by subjecting others to the same process.”
They noted the irony of the President’s “Mahiya naman kayo (Have some shame)” rebuke of corrupt officials while his own family’s alleged ill-gotten wealth remains unaccounted for.
According to the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), the Marcos family allegedly amassed ill-gotten wealth estimated between $5 billion and $10 billion in the 20 years the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was in power.
P174B recovered
The amount includes $687 million in his Swiss bank deposits which were eventually returned to the Philippines.
The PCGG has recovered P174 billion in cash and assets from the Marcoses and their cronies as of September 2021 and was seeking at least P125 billion more.
“While we support genuine anticorruption efforts, we demand that President Marcos lead by example and subject himself to the same scrutiny he demands from others,” the Makabayan lawmakers said.
When asked whether family members of officials, including their spouses, should also be subjected to lifestyle checks, Hontiveros said that this could be expanded voluntarily.
Like Hontiveros, other senators also fully supported the President’s call and initiative.
Vital step
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said the President’s directive should cover not just the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) but all other government agencies with large infrastructure budgets.
“This is a vital step towards restoring public trust and ensuring accountability,” he said. “With numerous anomalous flood control projects involving billions in public funds, we must take the fight against corruption seriously and implement it comprehensively.”
“Corruption erodes public trust and deprives our people of better services and infrastructure,” he added.
Senate President Francis Escudero said he was hoping that the President would also support several proposed measures filed by the senators to “compliment his initiatives to curb corruption.”
He referred to Senate Bill No. (SBN) 232, which would mandate all government officials and employees to submit a written permission to have their deposits and investments scrutinized by waiving their rights under the bank secrecy law. Another bill, SBN 783, would disqualify relatives of public officials within the fourth degree of consanguinity and affinity in all government contracts.
He said the effort to scrutinize the lifestyle of government officials and employees was covered by Article XI of the 1987 Constitution which declared that “public office is a public trust.”
Escudero reminded everyone in government service of at least two laws that they should be aware of.
Include ‘dummies’
One is Republic Act No. 1379, which forfeits all unlawfully acquire property by any public officer or employee in favor of the state, whether these were in their names or in the names of other people, if these were “manifestly out of proportion” to their salaries and other lawful earnings.
The other is RA 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, which enjoin state officials and employees and their families to lead “modest lives appropriate to their positions and income” and “they shall not indulge in extravagant or ostentatious display of wealth in any form.”
Vice President Sara Duterte, who was impeached for allegedly misusing millions in secret funds granted to her, among other charges, said she was in favor of lifestyle checks on officials linked to the alleged anomalous flood control projects, only if it will include their “dummies.”
She did not elaborate on who she was referring to during an interview in The Hague, the Netherlands, after visiting her detained father, ex-President Rodrigo Duterte. A transcript of the interview was provided to the media in Manila by her office.
“The lifestyle check should not just focus on the surface, like what is stated in their SALNs. It should take a deep dive on who their dummies are. They should expose the dummies of public officials,” the Vice President said.
Duterte was herself under scrutiny for her alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds for the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education, which she headed until she resigned last year to signal her open break with Mr. Marcos.
The Supreme Court hasn’t made a final decision on whether or not to go ahead with her trial by the Senate as the impeachment court.
Duterte has not answered any of the questions raised by the House lawmakers about her use of the secret funds, committing to respond only to the proper agencies such as the Commission on Audit.
She said the lifestyle check should go beyond flood control projects and repeated her allegations that House members “divided among themselves” the school building program funding she had requested when she was education secretary.
Duterte insisted in September last year that some lawmakers had asked for a share of the P5-billion allocation for building classrooms. She did not provide proof.
“No one reacted. Until now, no one is speaking up about it, no one investigated,” she said. “If the administration was really serious in curbing corruption, they should just look at the budget of 2024 and 2025.”
“And let’s not also stop there. They should also respond to the blank provisions in the budget. There are so many questions that need to be raised, not just in flood control, but in general,” she said. —WITH A REPORT FROM DEMPSEY REYES AND INQUIRER RESEARCH
