FOLLOWING the claims that there are certain provincial government department heads and employees who live an extravagant and luxurious lifestyle, Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. has dared the accuser to name names.
The governor said the accuser should identify who they want to be subjected to a lifestyle check.
Earlier, names of the said Capitol workers were sent to the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas by anti-corruption group Task Force Kasanag.
The said employees allegedly failed to declare some of their properties in their statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).
But the governor reckoned that he did not notice any department head or employee who uses branded things or use luxury vehicles.
He also said there are Capitol employees whose spouse is earning more while there are also those who have their own business.
But he warned the public workers to be careful about their lifestyle.
Lifestyle check, according to the Ombudsman, is an investigation strategy developed by anti-corruption agencies to determine the existence of an ill-gotten and unexplained wealth of government officials and employees.
The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act defined unexplained wealth as an amount of property and/or money manifestly out of proportion to a government official's salary and to other lawful income.
Under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, it’s the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission that was tasked to perform a lifestyle check on all government officials.
The agency was formed by Duterte to curb corruption among public workers.