Ombudsman to roll out e-SALN filing in 2018

The Office of the Ombudsman has announced that it will roll out a web-based system in 2018 that would allow government officials and employees to file their Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) online.

Under a memorandum circular which takes effect next year, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales directed all heads of government agencies to order their personnel to submit to the Ombudsman all original hard copes of the SALN together with their electronic copies on or before April 30 of every year.

The Ombudsman said the e-SALN should be in PDF format and individually saved per government personnel in compact discs or flash drives.

They are also required to submit a certification declaring that the submitted SALNs online are indeed reproductions of the original copies.

The Ombudsman said the full implementation of the e-SALN would be a “key institutional mechanism to combat corruption and promote accountability and ethical standards in public service.”

Any government official or employee may access, fill-out and file the SALN over the internet under the new system by simply using a web browser.

The Ombudsman signed a memorandum of agreement with World Bank in May 2013 aimed at developing an online-based system for the filing of SALNs by 2018.

In May last year, the Ombudsman, Civil Service Commission, Anti-Money Laundering Council, Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Internal Audit and Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs served as pilot agencies of the system then-dubbed as “eSALN16.” —Joseph Tristan Roxas/KBK, GMA News