SALN 101: The basic things every government employee needs to know about Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN)

What is SALN: Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth?

It is a declaration of assets (i.e., land, vehicles, etc) and liabilities (i.e., loans, debts, etc), including business and financial interests, of an official/employee, of his or her spouse, and of his or her unmarried children under 18 years old still living in their parents’ households. It includes a waiver authorizing the Ombudsman or his authorized representatives to attain documents that may show assets, liabilities, net worth, business interests, and financial connections from all appropriate government agencies.[1]

What is the legal basis for the requirement in the submission of SALN?

The submission of a SALN is required by law under Article XI Section 17 of the 1987 Constitution and Section 8 of Republic Act No. 6713, the “Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.” [2]

Who are required to file SALN?

All public officials and employees, whether regular or under temporary status, are required to file their SALN. [3]

Art. XI Sec. 17 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, provides, to wit:

“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.

“In the case of the President, the Vice-President, the Members of the Cabinet, the Congress, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Commissions and other constitutional offices, and officers of the armed forces with general or flag rank, the declaration shall be disclosed to the public in the manner provided by law.”

Who are not required/exempted from filing SALN?

Those who serve in an honorary capacity, laborers and casual or temporary workers are exempted from filing SALN pursuant to Sec. 8 of RA 6713.

When to file SALN?

Pursuant to Sec. 8 of RA 6713, the SALN must be filed:

1. “within thirty (30) days after assumption of office;

2. “on or before April 30, of every year thereafter; and

3. “within thirty (30) days after separation from the service. [4]

Where are the SALN’s filed?

Depending on the office/position of the government employee, the SALNs are filed as follows [5]:

What are the contents of the SALN?

Among others, the SALN contains the following information: [6]

⁃ real property, its improvements, acquisition costs, assessed value and current fair market value;

In Republic vs. Sandiganbayan (Jan. 30, 2002), the Supreme Court, speaking through Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide Jr., held that the acquisition cost, not the market or assessed value, should be used in computing whether public functionaries had amassed ill-gotten wealth or property that is manifestly out of proportion to their lawful income. Under RA 1379, unexplained wealth shall, after due process and hearing, be forfeited in favor of the state. [7]

⁃ personal property and acquisition cost;

All these information can be sourced from the invoices or sales receipts used in acquiring them. For example, when one purchases appliances like TV sets and radios, the stores issue invoices and receipts showing the information needed to fill out the spaces in the SALN form.

Motor vehicles should also be declared in this section on “personal and other properties.” In Flores vs. Montemayor (June 8, 2011), an employee was dismissed from the service for his unjustified failure to include “two expensive cars” in his 2001 and 2002 SALNs. [8]

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

⁃ liabilities;

⁃ all business interests and financial connections;

In Rabe vs. Flores (May 14, 1997), the respondent was dismissed from the service, with forfeiture of all retirement benefits and accrued leaves and a prohibition from being reemployed in the government, for dishonesty and failure to disclose her “business interest” which was merely a “stall in the market.” [9]

⁃ including those of their spouses and of unmarried children under eighteen (18) years of age living in their households; and

⁃ Identification and disclosure of relatives. — It shall be the duty of every public official or employee to identify and disclose, to the best of his knowledge and information, his relatives in the Government in the form, manner and frequency prescribed by the Civil Service Commission.

What are the consequences/penalties of not filing a true, accurate and complete SALN?

The CSC advises the filling out of all spaces in the SALN form. Do not leave any space unfilled. If the item is not applicable, put “N.A.” on the blank space.

Failure to file complete, accurate and truthful SALNs may subject the erring personnel to administrative, criminal and civil penalties. Administrative sanctions take the form of reprimand, fine, suspension or dismissal from the service, plus forfeiture of benefits, and a permanent ban to reemployment in the government, including government-owned or -controlled corporations.

So too, can criminal cases for falsification or perjury or violations of the Anti-Graft Law and Ethical Standards Law be filed separately from the administrative complaints. The penalty is imprisonment or fine or both. Civil sanctions can include forfeiture of the properties that are adjudged to be manifestly or grossly disproportionate to the legitimate income of  the respondent public officers. [10]

How do cases involving violations against the rules and regulations on SALN are enforced?

Cases involving SALN are usually initiated by the superiors of the erring employee, or even by private citizens. But the main responsibility for disciplining public officers is lodged by the Constitution and the law on the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB).

The Constitution mandates the OMB to “investigate on its own, or on complaint by any person, any act or omission of any public official, employee, office or agency, when such act or omission appears to be illegal, unjust, improper, or inefficient.”

On the other hand, RA 6770 (Ombudsman Act of 1989) empowers the OMB to investigate and initiate the recovery of ill-gotten and/or unexplained wealth and the prosecution of the parties involved. High government officials removable by impeachment, like the President, Vice President, Supreme Court justices and members of constitutional commissions like the Commission on Elections, may, per RA 6770, be investigated by the OMB “for the purpose of filing a verified impeachment complaint, if warranted.” [11]

References: Official Gazette, Artemio V. Panganiban

[Download Editable Copy of SALN Form]