Kabataan solon wants Congress, Palace to craft SALN release rules

House Assistant Minority Floor Leader and Kabataan Party-list Rep. Renee Co on Monday urged the House of Representatives, Senate, and Malacañang to come up with policies on the release of its members’ Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth to the public.

She agreed with Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon’s appeal for the House to institute such a policy, instead of having individual lawmakers publicly releasing their SALNs.

“Yes po, in favor po tayo dito. And sana hindi lang sa House. Sa Senate, sa Malacañang, sa iba pang mga agencies ay magkaroon din ng similar memo para ipakita nila na nasaan ba ang pag-iimbak ng milyones. Nasaan din yung ating mga opisyales na ino-observe yung Section 4(h) on simple living na dapat ay nasa batas. Pamumuhay ito ng mga opisyales, public officials,” Co said in an ambush interview.

(Yes, we are in favor of this. And I hope it's not just for the House, but the Senate, Malacañang, and other agencies. We hope there will be a similar memo so they can show where they stashed their millions. Where are the officials who observe Section 4(h)on simple living that is in the law. This is the lifestyle of officials, public officials.)

Co was referring to Section 4(h) of Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, which require government officials and employees to lead modest lives appropriate to their position and income.

Under this law, public officials and employees should “not indulge in extravagant or ostentatious display of wealth in any form.”

On Friday, Co and other members of the Makabayan bloc released their SALNs to the media. Co declared a net worth of P280,000.

Aside from the Makabayan lawmakers, the solons of Akbayan Party-list and Kamanggagawa Party-list, and Dinagat Islands Rep. Arlene “Kaka” Bag-Ao have also made their SALNs available to the media. All of them are members of the minority bloc in the lower chamber.

Co called on other government officials to similarly release their SALNs to the public.

“Yung ating panawagan ay lahat po ng mga mababatas, lahat po ng opisyales, i-release nila yung SALN voluntarily,” she said.

(Our appeal is for all lawmakers, all officials, to release their SALN voluntarily.)

Asked why only members of the House minority bloc have released their SALNs, Co said this is because they are open to public scrutiny.

“Scrutiny ng public yung lumalabas dito sa SALN. Kailangan natin i-welcome yung scrutiny ng public. Kung sinasabi natin na galit tayo sa korapsyon, kung sinasabi natin na a-action tayo laban sa korapsyon, ipakita natin yung credentials natin to do so. Ipakita natin na willing tayo na maging proponents ng simple living. At sa mga opisyales na baka may milyones, nahihiya, kasi saan ba nanggaling tong milyones na to? Eh di i-explain nila sa publiko,” she said.

(The SALN is about public scrutiny. We should welcome public scrutiny. If we say that we are angry at corruption, if we say that we are taking action against corruption, then let us show our credentials to do so. Let us show that we are willing to be proponents of simple living. And officials who have millions should be ashamed of themselves. Where are these millions coming from? They should explain this to the public.)

She maintained that SALNs of government officials must be made accessible to the public.

“Gusto natin na yung SALNs ay madaling ma-access ng public. As it stands po, merong... Although we welcome natin yung pagtanggal na ng matagal ng memorandum ni former Ombudsman Martirez na made SALNs inaccessible to the public, hindi mahirap na ibigay ng mga mambabatas ang kanilang mga SALN sa mga kanilang platforms available, social media, etc. for the scrutiny of the public,” Co said.

(We want the SALNs to be easily accessible to the public. As it stands... Although we welcome the reversal of former Ombudsman [Samuel] Martirez's memorandum that made SALNs inaccessible to the public. It's not difficult for lawmakers to make their SALNs available on their platforms, social media, etc, for the scrutiny of the public.)

She added: “So gawin natin madali sa taong bayan na maging participants sa paglaban natin sa korapsyon.”

(So let us make it easy for our people to be participants in our fight against corruption.)

Earlier, Speaker Faustino "Bojie" Dy III said he will review the House’s rules on the disclosure of SALNs to the public and that lawmakers will be discussing possible guidelines on the release of SALNs.

House Appropriations Committee chair and Nueva Ecija 1st District Rep. Mikaela Suansing said she is willing to publicly disclose her SALN, subject to the guidelines of the House.

“He (Speaker Dy) released a statement saying that they would revisit the guidelines for releasing SALNs for all House members. So kung ano po yung direction ng House leadership on that, I will comply po (So I will comply with the direction of the House leadership on that),” Suansing said in a press conference. -- JMA, GMA Integrated News