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Up to ombudsman, which requires filer's nod, to release Duterte SALNs — Palace

September 1, 2021 | 3:05pm

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte could release his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth like other government officials have but he won't do that out of respect for the Office of the Ombudsman, the Palace said Wednesday.

The Office of the Ombudsman, in turn, requires notarized authorization from the filer of the SALN being requested before releasing the wealth declarations. "All requests to inspect or to take picture of the SALN will be denied," the ombudsman also said in the memorandum restricting access to the SALNs.

Asked about the release of SALNs, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque pointed to the new policy — issued by the Office of the Ombudsman in September —"being implemented by the ombudsman as a constitutional body and we respect the the prerogative of the ombudsman in this regard."

The Office of the Ombudsman has custody of the SALNs filed by the president, the vice president and constitutional officials.

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism said in a July 2021 report that it tried to get copies of the SALNs of President Duterte and of other government officials but did not get far.

"An advisory instructed requesters to secure the SALNs from the concerned offices. PCIJ reached out to the Office of the President's Malacañang Records Office by phone, but was told that it didn't have a copy of the document," it reported.

Vice President Leni Robredo issued copies of her SALN in July after requests from media. Philstar.com obtained Robredo's SALN through a Freedom of Information request with her office, which it granted "in the interest of transparency" after just one working day.

Roque said the president could do the same.

"Well, he could, but he respects the ombudsman and he leaves it to the ombudsman," he said.

The Palace has taken the position that the president is only required to file his SALNs with the Office of the Ombudsman. Making it public would be up to the ombudsman, it has also repeatedly said.

The issue of the president's SALNs — his 2017 declaration was the last one made public — has been a recurring theme during the Duterte presidency although PCIJ notes that other government officials and offices have also restricted access to the wealth declarations.

It reported in July that "the Senate and the House of Representatives are still sitting on the requests two months after PCIJ filed them" while a request to Malacañang's Records Office for the 2020 SALNs of Cabinet secretaries was acknowledged but had yet to be processed when the story was published.

Robredo challenged Duterte over the weekend to release his SALNs to the public, saying this would be a more concrete way to show government transparency than a promise to audit government offices if he is elected vice president iin 2022.

"The mandate of the vice president is just succession...but auditing is given to a constitutional body for independence so it isn't disrupted by other branches of government," she said in Filipino.

"There are so many other ways to show that you're anti-corruption. [What about] your SALN? That's one of the biggest ways to really show that there is no corruption."