Provincial workers told to file SALN

THE Benguet Provincial Board ordered all employees of the province to heed the call of Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to file and provide the public copies of their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).

DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo issued Memorandum Circular 116, series of 2012 recently, which is a directive to make concerned officials’ SALN available to the public for inquiries.

It was addressed to the different mayor, governors, village chiefs, DILG officials, regional directors and government employees.

Robredo expressed “the directive is obligatory as it helps abate corruption in the government through the filing of SALN before the Office of the Ombudsman to make these documents transparent and readily available to the public.”

The agency laments recent developments in the country’s political system brought by the impeachment of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona. Robredo expressed through the circular these recent events can be circumvented or defeated by the SALN law.

The impeachment caused the agency to remind employees and officials again on the need to file their SALNs “religiously for the purpose of honest and accurate disclosure of their assets and liabilities.” Other than filing, DILG mandates employees for them to make their SALNs available to the public.

The agency further explained government employees should recognize the right of the public to access their SALNs.

DILG–Cordillera forwarded the circular to the Provincial Board of Benguet last Monday. The board then mandated every provincial employees and officials to oblige to the memorandum circular.