{"id":270033,"date":"2020-09-27T06:42:21","date_gmt":"2020-09-27T10:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=270033"},"modified":"2020-09-27T06:42:21","modified_gmt":"2020-09-27T10:42:21","slug":"ombudsman-should-reconsider-circular-on-saln-disclosure-pacc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/09\/27\/ombudsman-should-reconsider-circular-on-saln-disclosure-pacc\/","title":{"rendered":"Ombudsman should reconsider circular on SALN disclosure: PACC"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
In an interview over DZBB, Jimenez dared the Ombudsman to reconsider his circular, expressing concern that the public may have lost a \u201cweapon\u201d against corrupt government officials. (PNA file photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Ombudsman Samuel Martires should reexamine his memorandum circular that limits public access to Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN), Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) Chair Dante Jimenez said Sunday.<\/p>\n

In an interview over DZBB, Jimenez dared the Ombudsman to reconsider his circular, expressing concern that the public may have lost a \u201cweapon\u201d against corrupt government officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng<\/em>\u00a0challenge\u00a0ko sa<\/em>\u00a0Ombudsman\u00a0puwede po ba<\/em>\u00a0instead\u00a0na eto ay inyo pong papairalin, tingin niyo naman<\/em>\u00a0(My challenge to the Ombudsman, instead of letting that circular apply), have a second look on that otherwise the trust and confidence of the Filipino people will depend on how you perform, how you do your job,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jimenez said the circular caused the public to lose their trust and confidence in the anti-graft body, since restricting SALNs \u201cdefeats the purpose\u201d of transparency within government.<\/p>\n

\u201cNasira dito ang<\/em>\u00a0reputation\u00a0ng<\/em>\u00a0Ombudsman.\u00a0Mabagal na nga yung imbestigasyon ninyo e bibigyan niyo pa po ng restrictions ang ating mga kababayan<\/em>\u00a0(This circular destroyed the reputation of the Ombudsman. Their investigations are already taking too long, then they give restrictions to the public),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jimenez also found it hard to believe the Ombudsman\u2019s reason to restrict public access to SALNs and suspend lifestyle checks to prevent journalists from using them as means to extort money from politicians.<\/p>\n

\u201cRespectfully, I don’t buy that idea.\u00a0Kung ikaw ay maayos na tao sa gobyerno<\/em>\u00a0what is the fear?\u00a0Wala ka dapat itago, wala ka dapat ikatakot<\/em>\u00a0(If you\u2019re a decent government worker, what is the fear? You have nothing to hide, you should have nothing to fear),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to Jimenez, all government workers and officials, including the President should be transparent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t know the motive, with due respect. It may have a good intention to protect but we should be transparent, we have to be accountable to the people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite the Ombudsman\u2019s circular, Jimenez assured that all branches of government take part in combatting corruption in the country.<\/p>\n

“Huwag po mabahala ang ating mga kababayan dahil hindi lang naman ang<\/em>\u00a0Ombudsman\u00a0ang sabihin nating tagabantay ng korupsyon. Nandidiyan po ang gobyerno ng<\/em>\u00a0executive,\u00a0nandidiyan ang<\/em>\u00a0legislative,\u00a0tumutulong din po \u2018yan at nandidiyan po ang<\/em>\u00a0judiciary (Our citizens should not worry because the Ombudsman is not the only watchdog of corruption. There’s also the executive, legislative also helps, and the judiciary),” he said.<\/p>\n

He said the PACC will continue to investigate all presidential appointees in the Executive branch.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi kami apektado diyan sa<\/em>\u00a0Ombudsman.\u00a0Kami po, nagpa<\/em>-file\u00a0kami ng<\/em>\u00a0criminal complaints\u00a0sa<\/em>\u00a0Ombudsman\u00a0pero kumpleto na<\/em>\u00a0(We are not affected by the circular of the Ombudsman. We file criminal complaints before the Ombudsman with complete documents),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jimenez also said there are other means to request for government officials\u2019 SALNs.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaraming<\/em>\u00a0sources\u00a0na puwede pagkuhaan ng<\/em>\u00a0SALN.\u00a0Ang<\/em>\u00a0Ombudsman,\u00a0andidiyaan ang<\/em>\u00a0Civil Service Commission,\u00a0andidiyaan ang<\/em>\u00a0(Commission on Audit),\u00a0nandiyan ang<\/em>\u00a0Office of the President (There are a lot of sources to request for a SALN. There\u2019s the Ombudsman, there\u2019s Civil Service Commission, there\u2019s COA, there\u2019s the Office of the President),\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Ombudsman Samuel Martires should reexamine his memorandum circular that limits public access to Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":246524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-270033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270034,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270033\/revisions\/270034"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}