T,beffilani[u T'iM

www.manilatimes.net
&4 | wrottsDAY rebruaryo,iotr
tampered SALNs for being fakes, Casto doubled down
._$ on his absurdity and said that by then, his imaginary
h,{lttaYed4{ fr
terrorists had done enough "damage" and such "dam-
age" needed to be "prevented" rather than wait for it
io be "cured. "
Congressmen should This is coming ftom the House that had no qualms
using SALNs for fishing expeditions in the past Remem-
disclose more, not less ber the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Coronal
What restrictions is Casto proposing? On top of the
T NTRODUCINC a resolution to restrict public ac- usual disclosures of personal details and intentions
I cess lo the statements of assets, liabilities and net (usually journalistic or academic), Castro r^/ants healy
l- worth (SALN) of congressmen was not exactly- iedactions on specific SALN entries, notably the names
the best wiy for-Fredenil Castro, representative of of the SALN filer's relatives in government.
the second district of Capiz, to start his new stint as He also wants the cost of reproducing these SAlNs,
majority leader of the House of Representatives. which consist ofonly a few pages, really, to be prohibitive,
But he does not seem to care that public reaction to at a whopping P300 each. That means spending more
one of his first maior acts has been mostly negative than P80,000 just to get the SAINs of all House membersl
Casto claims his proposed resolution is meant to pre- Castro's resolution, however, will violate the law
vent "fishing expeditions" on, and hara .iment and even which requires all government officials to publicly dis-
blackmail oi House members and stah. close, to the best of their knowledge the names of all
We wonder how many House members and employ- their relatives in government.
ees have been subiected to such humiliation and agony, In effect, ifgiven the chance, what Cas[o wants to do
so as to move Castro to come up with such remedy. is to keep the public in the dark and make congressmen
So far, the good con- $$ffi less accountable to voters who have the right, under the
*
gressman has yet to - Castro's resolution, Anti-Graft and Comrpt Practices Act and the Code of
produce.evidence of however, will Ethical Standards and Practices for Public Officials and
the prevalence ofthese Employees, to examine whether their elected offrcials
wild schemes against violatethe law, have qniustly enriched themselves while in office.
his fellow lawmakers. which requires Malacaflang is to be commended for fiowning upon
From thin air durine this suspicious propospl, given the fact that Freedom of
attsovernment
"i;ili,b;;ffi;;:
however, he drew a officialstopublicly
Information is the noim in the Executive Branch under
one ofPresident Rodrigo Duterte's first executive orders.
scenario What is Castro so afraid of? If there is nothing to
"f.1:':9li:P
tampenng wrtn SALNs
disclose,tothebest
hide, then lawmakers should. be disclosing more
io biackrfiail lawmak- of their knowledge, information to thg public,.not less.
ers into influencing the nOmeS Of AII
the passage of bills Iirheirrelativesin
involving national se-
curity matters. govefnment' PAgz- * A,.1"
Told that congress-
men could simply deny