PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. said that he is willing to make his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth SALN) available to the public following the recent memorandum issued by the Ombudsman scrapping the consent requirement from the SALN owner.

In a Malacanan event today, the president said that he was surprised when he learned that the previous administration changed the rules regarding the public’s access to SALN. He added that the Ombudsman’s new memo is just reverting to the old policy.

“These old rules were suspended in the last administration where it was much easier to get a copy of the SALN and to examine it. And I was quite surprised to find out when I first came into office that that was no longer the case. That it was almost impossible, in fact, to get a copy of people’s SALN. So we’re just going back to the old procedure,” Marcos told reporters.

The president said that his SALN will be available upon request of proper authorities. He even expects the members of the Cabinet to make their SALNs available and accessible to the public.

New Ombudsman’s SALN memo

On Tuesday, newly appointed Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla released a memorandum circular providing new guidelines that will allow the public to gain access to the SALNs of government officials.

In a statement, Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said that this move was made to provide transparency and fight corruption.

This new policy scraps the circular issued by then Ombudsman Samuel Martires in 2020, wherein the public official must first provide a notarized consent before their SALN could be released.

“Transparency is the name of the game… There is no need for consent on the part of the public officer whose SALN is being requested. The only thing that the requesting party needs to show is ID and to make sure that he or she is not a fictitious person,” Clavano said.

The new guidelines apply to SALNs within the Ombudsman’s records which include that of the president, vice president, local government officials, and officers of Constitutional Commissions.

While the legislative and judiciary departments have their own SALN repositories, Clavano encouraged them to align their guidelines with the Ombudsman’s memo.

“Consistency across institutions is key. Selective transparency only breeds suspicion,” he said.

Under the new circular, all requests for copies of SALNs will be granted except for the following circumstances:

• The Office of the Ombudsman is not the official repository
• The requested SALN is not on file
• The request is for commercial or unauthorized purposes
• The requesting party has a record of misuse
• The request is related to a pending case intended to influence or harass
• There is evidence of extortion or threats to safety
• The identity of the requester is fictitious
• The request violates law, morals, or public policy

Furthermore, some information in the SALNs will be removed to protect the privacy of government officials. These include home address, details of minor children, signatures, and government-issued identification.