House urged to review rules on SALN release
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Mon, 04 Feb 2019 08:07:48 +0000
Malacañang has urged the House of Representatives to further review its strict rules on the release of Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth of lawmakers to avoid possible challenges about their legality.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo has expressed concern that the House resolution requiring plenary approval for public access to the SALN of congressmen might be considered a violation of the country’s laws.
“We hope the House deliberates more on this because it may be running the risk of being questioned later on,” Panelo said.
The House of Representatives has adopted House Resolution No. 2467 setting the new rules on public access to the SALNs of congressmen and regular employees.
Under the resolution, a SALN request must be approved by the House majority in a plenary session.
Panelo, also chief presidential legal counsel, however, found out that such plenary approval only adds to the burden of the people in obtaining access to the SALNs of lawmakers.
“Any additional burden to get the SALN may be a transgression of the Constitution because the Constitution provides that SALN should be given to the public. And also there is the constitutional provision on accountability of public officials,” he said.
“That’s additional burden when you have to pass through all the members of Congress,” he added.
He noted that in the Executive branch, President Duterte has signed an order allowing public access to certain government documents and information.
“As far as the Executive department is concerned, we issued an EO on freedom of information because we want SALN to be readily available to the public,” he added.
In July 2016, President Duterte signed Executive Order No. 2 mandating the full public disclosure of information in offices under the Executive branch to promote transparency. (Genalyn D. Kabiling)