Failure to File SALN

Republic Act No. 3019, otherwise known as the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, requires
that a public officer file his statement of assets and liabilities under the following circumstances:

SEC. 7. Statement of Assets and Liabilities. – Every public officer, within thirty days after assuming
office and, thereafter, on or before the fifteenth day of April following the close of every
calendar year, as well as upon the expiration of his term of office, or upon his resignation or
separation from office, shall prepare and file with the office of the corresponding Department
Head, or in the case of Head of Department or Chief of an independent office, with the Office of
the President, a true, detailed and sworn statement of assets and liabilities, including a
statement of the amounts and sources of his income, the amounts of his personal and family
expenses and the amount of income taxes paid for the next preceding calendar year: Provided,
That public officers assuming office less than two months before the end of the calendar year,
may file their first statement or before the fifteenth day of April following the close of said
calendar year.
A similar requirement is provided in Section 8 of Republic Act No. 6713, otherwise known as
the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, which reads:

SEC. 8. Statements and Disclosure. – Public officials and employees have an obligation to
accomplish and submit declarations under oath of, and the public has the right to know, their
assets, liabilities, net worth and financial and business interests including those of their spouses
and of unmarried children under eighteen (18) years of age living in their households.

(A) Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Financial Disclosure. – All public officials and
employees, except those who serve in an honorary capacity, laborers and casual or temporary
workers, shall file under oath their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth and the
Disclosure of Business Interests and Financial Connections and those of their spouses and
unmarried children under eighteen (18) years of age living in their households.

The two documents shall contain information on the following:

(a) real property, its improvements, acquisition costs, assessed value and current fair market
value;

(b) personal property and acquisition cost;

(c) all other assets such as investments, cash on hand or in banks, stocks, bonds, and the like;

(d) liabilities; and

(e) all business interests and financial connections.

The documents must be filed:

(a) within thirty (30) days after assumption of office;

(b) on or before April 30, of every year thereafter; and

(c) within thirty (30) days after separation from service.

All public officials and employees required under this section to file the aforestated documents
shall also execute within thirty (30) days from the date of their assumption of office, the
necessary authority in favor of the Ombudsman to obtain from all appropriate government
agencies, including the Bureau of Internal Revenue, such documents as may show their
liabilities, net worth, and also their business interests and financial connections in previous
years, including, if possible the year when they first assumed any office in the government.

As an administrative offense under Rule 10, Section 46, subparagraph D.8 of the Revised Rules
on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service (RRACCS), the complete “title” of said less-grave
offense is actually “[f]ailure to file sworn statements of assets, liabilities and net worth, and
disclosure of business interest and financial connections, including those of their spouses and
unmarried children under 18 years of age living in their households.”

Some of the legal bases for this offense, aside from aforementioned rules, are the following: a)
Article XI, Section 17 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which provides that “[a] public officer
or employee shall, upon assumption of office and as often thereafter as may be required by law,
submit a declaration under oath of his assets, liabilities, and net worth;” b) Book 1, Chapter 9,
Section 34 of the Administrative Code of 1987 which reiterates the same Constitutional
provision; c) Sections 7 and 8 of Republic Act RA 3019, as amended (otherwise known as the
Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) which talk about the filing of Statement of Assets and
Liabilities and prima facie evidence of and dismissal due to unexplained wealth; d) Section 8 of
RA 6713 (otherwise known as the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials
and Employees) which states that “[p]ublic officials and employees have an obligation to
accomplish and submit declarations under oath of, and the public has the right to know, their
assets, liabilities, net worth and financial and business interests including those of their spouses
and unmarried children under 18 years of age living in their households; and e) Rules VII, VIII
and IX of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of RA 6713.
SALN means Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth. All public officials and employees
are required to file SALN. SALN must be filed within 30 days after assumption of office; on or
before April 30, of every year thereafter; and within 30 days after separation from the service.

The SALN should contain the public officials and employees’ real property, its improvements,
acquisition costs, assessed value and current fair market value; personal property and
acquisition cost; all other assets such as investments, cash on hand or in banks, stocks, bonds,
and the like; liabilities (like loans or debts) and all business interests and financial connections.
Since the provision states “including those of their spouses and of unmarried children under 18
years of age living in their households,” then even bank accounts or other property (even held
only in trust) of their minor children should be included in the SALN. The liabilities of public
officials and employees who fail to comply with aforementioned laws and rules on the filing of
SALN are criminal and administrative.

Section 11 of RA 6713 provides the penalties of “fine not exceeding the equivalent of six months’
salary or suspension not exceeding one year, or removal depending on the gravity of the offense
after due notice and hearing by the appropriate body or agency.” The same section also
provides that “[v]iolations of Sections 7, 8 or 9 of this Act shall be punishable with
imprisonment not exceeding five years, or a fine not exceeding P5,000, or both, and in the
discretion of the court of competent jurisdiction, disqualification to hold public office.” As an
administrative offense, Rule 10, Section 46 of RRACCS provides the penalty of “suspension of
one month and one day to six months for the first offense; and dismissal from service for the
second offense.”

The importance of all these laws and rules requiring all public officials and employees to file
their SALN is emphasized in the relatively recent case of The Ombudsman, Fact-Finding and
Intelligence Bureau v. Valeroso, G.R. No. 167828, April 2, 2007. Thus, the Supreme Court said that
the law mandating full disclosure of wealth in the SALN is a means of preventing the evil of
unlawfully acquiring wealth and “is aimed particularly at curtailing and minimizing the
opportunities for official corruption and maintaining a standard of honesty in the public
service. Unexplained matter normally results from the nondisclosure or concealment of vital
facts. SALN, which all public officials and employees are mandated to file, is the means to
achieve the policy of accountability of all public officers and employees in the government. By
the SALN, the public are able to monitor movement in the fortune of a public official; it is a
valid check and balance mechanism to verify undisclosed properties and wealth.”
In the case of The Ombudsman, Fact-finding and Intelligence Bureau, Office of the Ombudsman, and
Preliminary Investigation and Administrative Adjudication Bureau v. Nestor S. Valeroso, GR 167828,
April 2, 2007, it was alleged in a complaint among others that respondent, then occupying the
position of director II at the Bureau of Internal Revenue, failed to disclose his ownership of
several properties, as well as certain business interests of his wife, in his sworn SALN from 1995
to 2002, in violation of Republic Act (RA) 6713, otherwise known as the Code of Conduct and
Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

Finding the existence of a strong indicia of guilt on the part (of Valeroso) for administrative
offense of dishonesty, and an unexplained increase in his net worth, the Ombudsman, in an
Order dated June 10, 2004, placed respondent under preventive suspension for a period of six
months without pay. On June 17, 2004, respondent Valeroso filed with the Court of Appeals
(CA) a petition for certiorari and prohibition, with a prayer for preliminary injunction and/or
temporary restraining order, seeking to nullify the preventive suspension order against him.
The CA, finding that grave abuse of discretion tainted the issuance of the preventive suspension
order in question, granted respondent’s petition and accordingly annulled and set aside the said
order5 of preventive suspension. Petitioner then went to the Supreme Court (SC) on the basic
issue of whether the CA had erred in finding that grave abuse of discretion attended the
issuance of the subject preventive suspension order. The SC ruled for petitioner Ombudsman.
It ruled that: “[c] learly, as the nondisclosure in his SALN of his assets and business interest
was understood by respondent himself, such non-disclosure essentially embraced or
comprehended concealment of unexplained wealth.”

The SC then quoted the complementing provisions of Sections 7 and 8 of the Anti-Graft and
Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019, as amended) which read: “Section 7. Statement of Assets and
Liabilities. Every public officer, within 30 days after assuming office, and thereafter, on or
before the 15th day of April following the close of every calendar year, as well as upon the
expiration of his term of office, or upon his resignation or separation from office, shall prepare
and file with the office of corresponding department head, or in the case of a head department
or chief of an independent office, with the Office of the President, a true, detailed and sworn
statement of the amounts and sources of his income, the amounts of his personal and family
expenses and the amount of income taxes paid for the next preceding calendar
year: Provided, that public officers assuming office less than two months before the end of the
calendar year, may file their first statement on or before the 15th day of April following the
close of said calendar year.
Section 8. Prima Facie Evidence of and Dismissal Due to Unexplained Wealth. If in accordance
with the provisions of RA 1375, a public official has been found to have acquired during his
incumbency, whether in his name or in the name of other persons, an amount of property
and/or money manifestly out of proportion to his salary and to his other lawful income, that fact
shall be ground for dismissal or removal. Properties in the name of the spouse and dependents
of such public official may be taken into consideration, when their acquisition through
legitimate means cannot be satisfactorily shown. Bank deposits in the name of or manifestly
excessive expenditures incurred by the public official, his spouse or any of their dependents,
including but not limited to activities in any club or association or any ostentatious display of
wealth, including frequent travel abroad of a nonofficial character by any public official when
such activities entail expenses evidently out of proportion to legitimate income, shall, likewise,
be taken into consideration in the enforcement of this section, notwithstanding any provision of
law to the contrary. The circumstances hereinabove mentioned shall constitute valid ground for
the administrative suspension of the public official concerned for an indefinite period until the
investigation of the unexplained wealth is completed.”

The SC then emphasized the importance of these provisions: “Section 8 above, speaks of
unlawful acquisition of wealth, the evil sought to be suppressed and avoided, and Section 7,
which mandates full disclosure of wealth in the SALN, is a means of preventing said evil and is
aimed particularly at curtailing and minimizing the opportunities for official corruption and
maintaining a standard of honesty in the public service. ‘Unexplained’ matter normally results
from ‘non-disclosure’ or concealment of vital facts. SALN, which all public officials and
employees are mandated to file, are the means to achieve the policy of accountability of all
public officers and employees in the government. By the SALN, the public are able to monitor
movement in the fortune of a public official; it is a valid check and balance mechanism to verify
undisclosed properties and wealth.”

On the legality of the preventive suspension imposed by the Ombudsman, the SC

explained: “Respondent cannot claim any right against, or damage or injury that he is bound to
suffer from, the issuance of the preventive suspension order in question, in the light of the
unbending rule that there is no such thing as a vested right or an estate in an office, or even an
absolute right to hold it. Public Office is not property but a ‘public trust or agency.’ While due
process may be relied upon by public officials to protect their security of tenure which, in a
limited sense, is analogous to property, such fundamental right to security of tenure cannot be
invoked against a preventive suspension order which is a preventive measure, not imposed as a
penalty.”