Proposed SALN Meets Various Oppositions

Administration and opposition lawmakers are seeking to overhaul the proposed Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) form, which they described as unconstitutional for requiring the declaration of tax payment and personal expenses, gross income, and income taxes paid.

Surigao Del Sur Representative Philip Pichay, a member of the minority bloc, Wednesday said members of House Committee on Civil Service crossed party lines in the expression of their “violent reaction” to the proposal for the new SALN form for public officials that came from the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

“Regardless of our party affiliations, we rejected the new SALN form being unconstitutional. The new form required information that will entirely change the SALN and will touch even the lives of private persons,” Pichay told reporters in a weekly forum.

He argued that the details being required in the new SALN form are the same things being asked in the proposed new income tax return by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), which has been classified voluntary following vehement opposition from lawmakers and business groups.

CSC chairman Francisco Duque made an assurance that he will bring their concerns to the team of government agencies that crafted the new SALN form, which include the Department of Finance (DoF), Department of Justice (DoJ), and CSC among others.

House Minority Leader Danilo vowed to question the legality of the issue before any competent court.

“We must register our objection to the proposed new SALN form, mainly because of potentially unconstitutional overreach. Under Article 11, Section 17 of the Constitution, every public officer is required to submit under oath a declaration of his assets, liabilities, and net worth,” Suarez said.

“And yet the new SALN form seeks to go much farther, by also requiring disclosure of matters like one's gross income, personal and family expenses, and income taxes paid,” he continued.

The lawmaker from Quezon province argued that “the Supreme Court has ruled that a governmental purpose may not be achieved by means which sweep unnecessarily broadly and thereby invade the area of protected freedoms.”

“Constitutional requirement of disclosure pertains only to the public officer involved and not to his spouse and other relatives. The additional information required is tantamount to a fishing expedition that infringes on a person's right against self-incrimination and exposes public officials to harassment and abuse,” he said.

“The content of the SALN form is also found in Republic Act 6713, hence before the new SALN form can be implemented the law must first be amended,” he added.

By RIO ROSE RIBAYA

mb.com.ph

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