Each April, most government employees have no qualms complying with a law that requires them to file a declaration of their assets, debts, and business interests as of the previous calendar year.
That’s because most of them are ordinary wage earners who have no problem reconciling whatever properties they may have bought with what their salaries can afford, otherwise their financial standing will be subject to legal questions.
I’m referring to the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) based on the 1987 Constitution and Republic Act 6713, also known as the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Government Officials and Employees.
The SALN has been institutionalized as an indicator of whether a government worker has illegally enriched himself or herself while in office. As such, it has become a symbol of transparency and integrity in public service.
Under former President Rodrigo Duterte, this instrument of checking illegally acquired wealth was stunted when then Ombudsman Samuel Martires refused its public disclosure. He even wanted anyone who makes “commentaries” on the SALNs of government officials and employees jailed.
Now, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed former Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla as the new Ombudsman, replacing Martires who retired last July.
On Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, Remulla lifted the restrictions on public access to SALNs. He is also set to review the SALN of Vice President Sara Duterte, who is under scrutiny over alleged misuse of government funds.
But more than the SALN of the Vice President or of members of her family which I would rather leave to political analysts and the Ombudsman himself, I am deeply interested in looking into the financial standing of officials and employees of government offices which are now the subject of much controversy.
These offices include the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources as well as their attached agencies.
My interest lies in the fact that many high-ranking officials of these agencies have been recently been dismissed, suspended, charged and penalized for various offenses. Aside from ghost and substandard projects, several of them have also been faulted for environmental fiascos.
Surprisingly, however, I have yet to come across whistleblowers from the rank-and-file of these offices and agencies.
Surely, workers in the lower levels of the bureaucracy would know if shenanigans take place in their midst. An office is such a small world that anybody would know if somebody is misbehaving and any conduct unbecoming would most certainly be fodder for gossip.
But why hasn’t anyone come out with reports or even just allegations of wrongdoings in these offices?
Could their silence be an indication of complicity? And if so, since huge funds are often involved in the controversies, couldn’t such possible complicity be revealed in the SALNs of these workers vis-à-vis their lifestyles?
I am not into the habit of wholesale accusations. I do believe there are more honest people in government than the opposite and that whistleblowing, by my personal experience, isn’t exactly a position of comfort or pleasure.
But the eeriness of the whole situation mystifies me no end. Too much is at stake in our country now and at some point, something has got to give. The SALNs of government employees should be a good source of clues for our graft investigators to look into.
After all, it has often been said that those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear.