MANILA, Philippines — Partido Reporma bet Panfilo "Ping" Lacson said Friday that he will forgo his rights to bank secrecy on his first day as president, but will not force other government officials to follow suit.
"On the first day of my office, waiver of my rights under the Bank Secrecy Act," Lacson said during the KBP presidential forum livestreamed Friday.
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He was referring to his first act once he assumes office, if elected.
"I will encourage all government officials and employees to do the same. I cannot mandate it, but I will encourage them because these are individual rights, but I'm going to set the tone of my presidency to establish a clean government," he added.
Under The Secrecy of Bank Deposits Law of 1955, all deposits with banks and banking institutions, including bond investments issued by the government, are considered confidential and may not be examined, inquired or looked into by anyone without written permission from the depositor, and in cases of impeachment, bribery or dereliction of duty on the part of public officials.
During the interview, Lacson was also asked whether he would ban government officials identified to have been allegedly involved in the Pharmally controversy from attending the probes— which is what President Rodrigo Duterte did.
"No. I am not [going to ban them from attending the hearings]. We are pushing for transparency. How will one administration succeed if we hide information that the public should know?" he said.
Lacson earlier signed the partial Blue Ribbon Committee report which detailed the findings of the Pharmally probe, but said he had "strong reservations" as he wanted to clarify the issue of the "betrayal of public trust." The 113-page report recommended, among others, that charges be filed against President Rodrigo Duterte once he steps down from office.
'I have forgiven Arroyo'
Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo just released her book "Deus Ex Machina", a memoir which intends to "correct the many misconceptions" about her administration.
In her book, Arroyo admitted that she was fed false information by whistleblower Antonio Luis Marquez who linked Lacson to various criminal activities, according to the senator.
Mawanay retracted his "false claims" later on. Meanwhile, former top military intelligence officer Victor Corpus, who was said to have acted on Mawanay's claims, publicly apologized in 2017.
"Better than never. To ex-PGMA’s credit, she has the decency and courage to admit that she publicly and unjustly accused me of various crimes based on false information. Whatever, I have already forgiven her a long time ago," Lacson said in a tweet.
Lacson's running mate in this year's elections is Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III.