Malacañang on Tuesday asserted that President Rodrigo Duterte had filed his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) in the last two years, even though the documents were not publicly available.
“I do not know if that has not been made available. But what I’m sure about is, it has been filed,” Palace spokesman Harry Roque told reporters.
“I don’t think the President is keeping anything from the public. The fact is, he is the only branch of government that has in fact issued an issuance, an Executive Order (EO) on transparency, and that is FOI (freedom of information), in the executive branch of government,” he added.
Duterte’s net worth after assuming presidency in 2016 was at P27.42 million. It rose to P28.54 million in 2017.
Roque said an FOI request was needed to access Duterte’s 2018 and 2019 SALNs.
Former Duterte spokesman Salvador Panelo last year said the public release of Duterte’s SALN should be requested through the Office of the Ombudsman.
Duterte signed Executive Order 2 on July 23, 2016, which aimed to “operationalize in the executive branch the people’s constitutional right to information and the state policies to full public disclosure and transparency in the public service and providing guidelines therefor.”
Section 5 of the EO states that “all public officials are reminded of their obligation to file and make available for scrutiny their [SALN] in accordance with existing laws, rules and regulations and the spirit and letter of this Order.”
Under its Sept. 1, 2020 Memorandum Circular, the Office of the Ombudsman said it would start requiring a SALN owner’s consent before furnishing copies of a SALN to a requester. John Ezekiel J. Hirro