MANILA -- Senator Antonio Trillanes IV joined two other colleagues who signed a waiver allowing the Office of the Ombudsman to check if bank records are consistent with asset declarations.

Senators Francis Escudero and Ramon Revilla Jr. did the same last week in response to calls for wider transparency in government, triggered by the removal of Chief Justice Renato Corona for undeclared cash in the statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN).

“It is a time-honored principle that a public office is a public trust. It is enshrined in the Constitution, the highest law of the land, and such command deserves utmost respect and must be the foremost rule in public service,” Trillanes said.

Covered by the waiver are his asset statements from the time he was elected in 2007 up to 2011.

Trillanes, the poorest senator in the 15th Congress, declared P1.52 million in cash as of December 31, 2011. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)