Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Tuesday said he agrees that President Rodrigo Duterte should release his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs).
“Yes, I think so. He is the President. The people expect transparency [from] their leaders,” Sotto said in an ANC interview when asked if he believes the President should release his SALNs based on existing laws.
Duterte has not released his SALNs for the years 2018, 2019, and 2020, with Malacañang insisting that it was up to the Office of the Ombudsman to disclose the President’s asset statements.
However, Ombudsman Samuel Martires has been firm in his policy not to release Duterte’s SALNs, citing an order he issued in September last year that a government official’s SALN may not be accessed without his or her consent.
Sotto, a vice presidential aspirant in the May 2022 elections, said that the electorate should not trust candidates who refuse to disclose their SALNs.
He made the remark when asked about suggestions for election candidates to sign a waiver that would authorize the disclosure of their SALNs.
Sotto explained that if SALN disclosure were to be mandatory, the Supreme Court would only strike down any provision in the law that would seek more requirements from political candidates apart from those that were written in the 1987 Constitution.
“Remember in the Dangerous Drugs Act, the [Republic Act] 9165, I placed there a provision that all candidates must undergo drug testing, the SC shot it down and said it is unconstitutional because in the Constitution, it only says you only have to be a Filipino citizen and knows how to read and write…So that will fall under that category,” he said.
“Kapag sinabi natin na lahat ng kandidato kailangan mag-file ng SALN, if someone questions that before the Supreme Court mayroon ng jurisprudence,” he added.
(If we will require all candidates to file their SALN, if someone questions it before the Supreme Court, there will be a jurisprudence.)
“It’s up to the candidates. So ‘yung mga candidate na ayaw mag-submit ng SALN eh alam na nating ‘di dapat pagkatiwalaan,” Sotto said.
(We should know that we should not trust candidates who don’t want to submit their SALNs.)
He also raised the need for a Freedom of Information Law. — VBL, GMA News
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