We find it troubling that several chief executives in Cebu failed to submit their statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN) for 2016.
The deadline for the submission of the documents in which government employees are bound by law to disclose their wealth as of December last year was April 30 this year.
But for still unknown reasons, the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas has yet to locate the SALNs of several town mayors.
They are Mayors Beatrice Caburnay of Alcantara, Stanley Caminero of Argao, Jose Antonio Pintor of Asturias, Carmencita Lumain of Badian, Efren Gica of Dumanjug, Ma. Esperanza Christina Frasco of Liloan, Joven Mondigo Jr. of Medellin, Mariano Martinez of San Remigio, and Marilyn Wenceslao of Santander.
In exercise of our constitutionally-guaranteed freedom of information, we urge the Office of the Ombudsman to find and release the SALNs of these mayors as soon as possible.
If the mayors have not submitted their SALNs, we call on them do so pronto. The Ombudsman may yet excuse their late filing.
The documents enable constituents to ensure that their leaders are not using their offices as money-making machines.
Timely filing of a truthful SALN indicates that a government worker and his family have nothing to hide.
Dutiful compliance also sets a good example and signals fairness to the rank and file who submit SALNs within the deadline, heavy workload notwithstanding.
The form instructs an employee to disclose, under oath, his net worth by subtracting liabilities from assets, his connections to businesses, and his relationship to family members in government.
With the help of SALNs, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales built cases earlier this year against Alan Purisima, the former chief of the Philippine National Police.
Purisima and his wife had disposable funds of up to P31 million from 2000 to 2014. But their purchases reached P54 million in the same period.
The first and last time a Philippine Supreme Court chief Justice was removed by impeachment, it was due in large part to SALN misdeclarations.
At a time when our nation’s legislators continue to drag their feet on a freedom of information law, the SALN is one of the few instruments people may wield to keep leaders on the path of integrity.
Government workers who fail to file correct SALNs as prescribed may be likened to vampires who quake in their boots with the coming of dawn.