Even the Ombudsman cannot get lawmakers’ SALNs. Here is why.

Traditionally, the Home has not all the time been receptive to SALN requests. This has additionally been the apply of different branches, like the chief and the judiciary.

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla sounded the alarm over the restricted entry to lawmakers’ Statements of Belongings, Liabilities, and Internet Value (SALN) amid the continued flood management corruption probe.

Remulla, who assumed workplace in 2025, mentioned his investigating groups are going through difficulties in accessing what are presupposed to be public paperwork.

“Might mga sinasabi sa workforce namin na padadaanin pa uncooked sa plenary ‘yong permission. Walang gano’n eh, hindi dapat padaanin sa plenary. Nasa Congress ako dati (Our workforce was saying that the permission to entry SALNs must undergo the Home’s plenary. There’s no such factor, the request mustn’t undergo plenary. I used to be in Congress earlier than,” the previous lawmaker-turned-Ombudsman mentioned.

As the first anti-graft physique, the Ombudsman is on high of the investigation into the multi-billion flood management corruption that allegedly entails not simply personal contractors, but additionally high-ranking officers like members of the Home of Representatives and senators.

SALNs are essential as a result of they comprise the abstract of a authorities official’s wealth and liabilities. These paperwork additionally function support for investigators who do life-style checks or who look into attainable ill-gotten wealth.

In brief, SALNs are there to identify attainable crimson flags within the properties of presidency officers and staff, and to make sure that they’re dwelling inside their means.

If that is so, why does even the Workplace of the Ombudsman — a strong constitutional physique tasked to fight corruption — discover it tough to come up with these paperwork?

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What are the principles?

The annual submission of SALNs is remitted by part 17, article XI of the 1987 Structure, in addition to Republic Act (RA) No. 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Moral Requirements for Public Officers and Staff.

Beneath the Civil Service Fee’s (CSC) SALN pointers, the next workplaces function custodian of those paperwork:

• Ombudsman: President, Vice President, constitutional fee heads and officers
• Secretary of the Senate: Senators
• Secretary of the Home: Home members
• Supreme Court docket’s Clerk of Court docket: Justices
• Workplace of the Court docket Administrator: Judges
• Workplace of the President: Cupboard members, undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, and many others.
• Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao: Regional officers of presidency workplaces, and provincial and metropolis/municipal officers
• Civil Service Fee: All different authorities officers

Are SALNs open to public?

Legal guidelines mandate the discharge of SALNs to the general public.

Article XI, part 17 of the Structure states that “declaration (SALN) shall be disclosed to the general public within the method supplied by regulation,” whereas RA No. 6713’s part 8(d) permits entry to SALNs so long as it’s for “information and communications media for dissemination to most people.”

However regardless of these authorized bases, entry to SALNs relies on the discretion of their custodians. More often than not, entry to those paperwork just isn’t granted. Whereas in some instances, the house owners of the SALNs themselves volunteer to reveal theirs to the general public.

The SC affirmed that the discharge of SALNs could also be discretionary via a 2021 ruling that mentioned public entry to SALNs could also be regulated.

“A custodian such because the Workplace of the Ombudsman just isn’t sure underneath each circumstance to permit or to grant the request of disclosure of a public official’s SALN to the general public. A custodian just isn’t prohibited by the Structure to manage such disclosure,” the Excessive Court docket mentioned.

Some SALNs are at present out there on the Ombudsman’s, however as acknowledged within the CSC pointers, not all disclosures are there.

In reality, at one level, Duterte-time ombudsman Samuel Martires even barred entry to SALNs underneath his workplace from 2018 till his retirement in 2025. When Remulla assumed workplace in 2025, he lifted this memorandum and allowed entry to SALNs anew.

The Home’s apply

Traditionally, the Home has not all the time been receptive to SALN requests. This has additionally been the apply of different branches, like the chief and the judiciary.

After the 2012 ouster of the late former chief justice Renato Corona, who was impeached for his failure to declare some properties, the federal government has change into additional cautious in releasing SALNs.

The Supreme Court docket restricted the discharge of SALNs to guard justices and judges from harassment, whereas some lawmakers grew to become extra averse to disclosing their wealth. In 2012, then-Home speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. even reiterated that requests for SALNs ought to be directed to the person lawmakers themselves.

Within the context of the flood management corruption, some authorized consultants like former Philippine Bar Affiliation president Rico Domingo mentioned the Ombudsman could problem subpoenas to entry the SALNs of lawmakers allegedly concerned within the mess.

“He (Remulla) has a foundation. Beneath his constitution, the Ombudsman Act, he has a foundation for requesting the SALNs of the individuals they’re investigating…And the Senate and or the Home will be unable to reject or decline as a result of the Ombudsman has the facility to subpoena all of the SALNs,” Domingo mentioned in a mixture of Filipino and English in a DZMM interview.

However primarily based on the expertise of some prosecutors through the pork barrel rip-off, the issuance of subpoenas was no assurance. Even with this authorized doc, SALN requests for Home members nonetheless went via the Speaker’s workplace, after which to the plenary for approval. There have been additionally cases the place some prosecutors by no means bought the SALNs they requested for in any respect.

For Remulla, the Home ought to cooperate with them for a sooner probe.

“Simply cooperate. Ayaw naming makasakit ng tao, gusto namin maiayos lang ang bansa (We don’t wish to damage anybody, we simply wish to repair our nation),” the Ombdusman mentioned.

Speaker Bojie Dy mentioned in September 2025 that he’s keen to make his SALN public, and he fulfilled this promise the next month. Beneath Dy, will the Home change its thoughts and be open as properly to launch different lawmakers’ SALNs? – Rappler.com