Saturday, November 08, 2008 Ombud sets SAL release
THE Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas has announced it will release by next week the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN) of all elected and appointed government officials to the press.
Deputy Ombudsman Pelagio Apostol, in an interview yesterday, said he got the nod of Tanodbayan Merceditas Gutier-rez over the release last September yet and admitted there was no change in policy after all.
“I just wanted to be sure. I did not want my position to clash with that of Manila. But now, Manila has said there is no problem with releasing the SAL. We will, therefore, release it,” he said.
The SALN is an official document where government officials are required under oath to list down all their assets and their liabilities. It is required under Republic Act (RA) 6770, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and is supposed to be submitted annually.
News agencies have long used the document to track the financial standing of elected officials.
But Apostol began blocking media’s access to the document when he assumed leadership of the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas in September last year.
He said he is still verifying with Manila if the rules regarding its release has changed.
His move to prevent access has become the subject of many commentaries. It was once discussed in an executive committee meeting of the Cebu Citizens-Press Council last June, with him being invited as a resource person.
But even after being reminded by fellow public officials, like Cebu Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Meinrado Paredes, of SALN’s importance to public information, Apostol still refused to release the document, saying Manila had yet to answer his query.
“If you become strict in the release of the SALNs, you are discouraging the filing of Republic Act 1379 cases from the people,” Paredes had said.
RA 1379 forfeits in favor of the state any property found to have been unlawfully acquired by any public officer or employee.
Even giving him a citation of the law his own office is tasked to enforce, and therefore be the first to observe, didn’t work.
Section 5 (e) of Republic Act 6770, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials, a law that the Office of the Ombudsman is tasked to uphold. It declares it a “duty” of public officials and employees to “make documents accessible to the public.”
The provision continues: “All public documents must be made accessible to and readily available for inspection by the public within reasonable working hours.” KNR)
