Ombudsman aspirants back lifestyle checks on gov’t officials
Most applicants for Ombudsman on the second day of public interviews by the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) backed lifestyle checks on government officials, recognizing it as a basic power of the position.
The applicants shared their sentiments amid a recent order by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to conduct a lifestyle check on government officials, beginning with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), as his administration investigates the alleged anomalies in flood-control projects nationwide.
One applicant, former Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares stressed that a lifestyle check is an “inherent power” of the Ombudsman and one of its “major tools” to combat and prevent corruption.
“That’s one of the basic things that an Ombudsman must do, in fact the President himself has already ordered a lifestyle check,” she said in a chance interview with reporters.
Jacinto-Henares explained that lifestyle checks also extend to the families of government officials, allowing authorities to review their income and lifestyle based on the taxes they have paid.
Another applicant, Human Rights Commissioner Beda Epres, noted that lifestyle checks for officials’ families and relatives would still depend on the evidence gathered by authorities.
“That would all depend on the evidence we gather… if the illegally acquired wealth was transferred to the children, relatives, or spouse, then they would also be implicated,” he said.
Both he and Jacinto-Henares, however, believe that the Republic Act No. 6770, or the Ombudsman Act of 1989, already provides enough bases for lifestyle checks.
For Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Geraldine Faith Econg, however, the Ombudsman’s power to conduct lifestyle checks is not clearly stated by the law.
“I am pro-lifestyle check, but then the law has to be clear that it is given and granted to the Office of the Ombudsman,” she said.
Apart from lifestyle checks, all three applicants expressed intent to open—or at the very least, revisit—the restrictions currently implemented on the release of Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) of public officials and make them more accessible to the public, even with restrictions.
