PRESIDENT Duterte should lead by example and make public his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) if he is truly serious in fighting graft and corruption in government, Vice President Leni Robredo said yesterday.
Instead of threatening to assume the role of the Commission on Appointments (COA) should he win as vice president in next year’s national elections, Robredo also said, the President should walk the talk and stop hiding his SALN from public scrutiny.
“There are many ways to show that you’re anti-corruption. The SALN is just one way to show that all information is open to the public, which, to me, shows that there is no corruption),” the opposition leader said in Filipino in her weekly radio program on RMN.
Robredo’s SALN has always been available to media.
Duterte last week said he would assume the role of state auditor should he become vice president as he continued to assail COA for its 2020 audit findings, particularly on the Department of Health’s alleged misuse of its pandemic budget, which brought more hardships to the already suffering public.
The Office of the Ombudsman has restricted access to public officials’ SALN by requiring the consent of the concerned official for its release, making it almost impossible for the public to review the President’s SALN which has been kept a secret since 2018 despite his anti-corruption claims.
Duterte has been drawing flak for his penchant for blatantly defending officials who are accused of anomalies and incompetence, often removing an official only to transfer him to another position instead of ordering thorough investigations. For one, the President has long been defending Health Secretary Francisco Duque III despite the DOH’s alleged ineptness in leading the government’s pandemic response.
Robredo, who has yet to decide if she will join the presidential race, said the fight against graft and corruption should start with the Office of the President, pointing to the headway gained during the Aquino administration under which, she said, a lot of new anti-corruption measures were introduced.
“It wasn’t completely eradicated but at least the system was in place),” she said.
Robredo reminded Duterte that auditing government agencies is the mandate of COA which is an independent constitutional body, and that the vice president has no business encroaching upon the agency’s duties and responsibilities.
The Vice President said the primary obligation of the vice president is to be the immediate successor to the president in case of death or resignation.
However, despite this limitation and a measly annual budget, Robredo said her office has been creative in coming up with different programs to help the public.
She also defended congressional inquiries from Duterte’s attacks, saying that while it is prone to abuse by lawmakers, the investigations are feared by the Executive because the hearings often expose information that it wants to hide from the public.
“Kinakatakutan ito noong mga nasa Executive na ‘pag nagkaroon ng congressional inquiry marami talagang lalabas na mga ayaw palabasin. While dangerous siya na magamit sa hindi tama, necessary pa rin ito (The Executive fears that the information it wants hidden will come out during congressional investigations. While it is dangerous because it can be used wrongfully, it remains necessary),” Robredo said.
The President slammed congressional investigations after lawmakers held hearings to look into the COA report on the DOH’s 2020 pandemic budget, saying the inquiries are being conducted only for political posturing and publicity.
