By Edjen Oliquino

Copyright tribune

ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio has urged the Ombudsman to scrap its longstanding policy that bars lifestyle checks on government officials suspected of corruption and limits public access to their Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).Tinio made the call on Wednesday during plenary deliberations over the Ombudsman’s proposed P6.67-billion budget for 2026. He said the policy, in place since the Duterte administration, has created a loophole that allows corrupt officials to operate unchecked.Tinio asserted that former Ombudsman Samuel Martires was equally culpable for the large-scale corruption in the flood control fiasco, citing “controversial” policies that seemed to shield public officials from scrutiny, specifically stopping lifestyle checks and blocking public access to officials’ SALNs, which were carried out under his watch. “Ombudsman Martires is responsible for the policy of restricti[ng] the public access to SALNs. Martires signed Memo Circular No. 1 in 2020 which effectively made it very difficult for the public to get copies of official SALNs,” Tinio said. “The Constitution and the SALN Law state that the SALN of any public official can be reviewed during office hours. But because of his policy, he had practically made it impossible for the ordinary citizen to access SALNs,” the Makabayan solon added. The memorandum stated that a SALN could only be released to the public if the official who submitted it provided a notarized letter authorizing its disclosure. In enforcing the memorandum in September 2020, Martires explained that critics were weaponizing the SALNs to discredit public officials, leading to unfair and wrongful accusations. Following his appointment by former President Rodrigo Duterte in 2018, Martires also discontinued lifestyle checks on government officials, arguing that the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (RA 6713), which mandates such checks, was illogical.Quezon Rep. Keith Micah Tan, the Ombudsman’s budget sponsor, told Tinio that the memorandum was still in effect despite Martires’ retirement in late July, adding that the anti-graft body will defer to the incoming Ombudsman on whether to retain or scrap the policy. As for lifestyle checks, Tan said the Ombudsman did not totally abolish them, but they were “done discreetly.” In 2024, the constitutional body conducted 82 lifestyle checks on public officials, while only 40 had been conducted as of July this year. Tan said that officials and employees of the Department of Public Works and Highways allegedly involved in the corrupted flood control projects, notably dismissed Bulacan district engineer Henry Alcantara, were subjected to lifestyle checks recently due to the ongoing investigation by the Ombudsman.Tinio, however, said the acting Ombudsman should issue a ruling on making government officials’ SALNs public. He emphasized that this is especially important while the flood control investigation is ongoing, as it would allow the authorities to track unexplained wealth.