Duterte Won’t Release SALN Out Of Respect
DUTERTE WON’T RELEASE SALN – According to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, President Duterte won’t publicize his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) out of respect.
Duterte, along with his Cabinet members, all vowed that they are against corruption. However, Vice President Leni Robredo challenged Duterte that the best way to do this is by example.
As such, she urged him to release his SALN from 2018 to 2020 to give the public transparency. But, as a response to this statement, Roque explained:
Well, he could unilaterally show his SALN, but he respects the Ombudsman and he leaves it to the Ombudsman to release it.
Roque said that there was a new policy implemented by the Ombudsman as a constitutional body. Furthermore, he emphasized that the palace respects the prerogative of the Ombudsman.
For his part, Roque was referring to the memorandum circular of the Ombudsman back in 2020. This limits the public access to SALNs of the President, Vice President, and other government officials.
The memorandum that hid the SALNs from the public eye was prevalent even though Duterte signed a “freedom of information” (FOI) executive order in 2016, something that covers all executive offices.
Roque had earlier said that they would allow the Ombudsman to issue a copy of Duterte’s SALN, especially since they are the independent constitutional body when it comes to this.
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