End the Excuses, Amend the Law

The recent decision of some lawmakers and officials to voluntarily release their Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) is a welcome flicker of light in a long-darkened room. Paired with Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla’s move to restore public access to these vital documents, it seems a new season of transparency may be dawning. Yet, as many officials continue to hesitate, hiding behind tired excuses, it’s clear that a change in season is not enough. We need to change the climate itself.

For too long, the public has been fed a disingenuous narrative: that SALNs are being “weaponized” for political attacks. This argument, championed by former Ombudsman Samuel Martires of the Rodrigo Duterte administration and echoed by officials from Malacañang down, is a dangerous fallacy. It is a deliberate attempt to delegitimize public scrutiny by framing it as malicious. A SALN is not a weapon. It is a diagnostic tool for democracy, a constitutional mandate designed to expose ill-gotten wealth and hold power in check. To argue that it can be “weaponized” is to argue that the public cannot be trusted with the truth about those who serve them.

Scrutiny is not a bug in the system; it is the entire point. When officials cry “political attack,” what they often mean is “uncomfortable accountability.” The tenure of former Ombudsman Martires, who locked SALNs away and even threatened jail time for those who dared to comment on them, was the peak of this absurdity. He turned a tool of transparency into an instrument of intimidation, providing legal cover for those with something to hide. This is a profound betrayal of the Ombudsman’s mandate to serve the people, not the powerful. As the provided text rightly notes, if we banned everything that could potentially be used as a weapon, we’d have to get rid of knives and the internet. The argument is a smokescreen, and the public must see it for what it is: an attack on accountability itself.

While Ombudsman Remulla’s restoration of access is commendable, it highlights the system’s critical flaw: it is entirely dependent on the discretion of one person. The progress made today can be erased tomorrow by a different appointee with a different agenda. The Martires era is a painful testament to this vulnerability. We cannot build a foundation of public trust on such shifting sands.

The only permanent solution is to remove the ambiguity that allows officials to hide. Congress must take the definitive next step and amend Republic Act 6713, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees. The law should be updated to make not just the filing but the annual public release of SALNs mandatory, automatic, and timely. No more requests, no more special permissions, no more discretionary loopholes. Publication should be the default.

This simple legislative fix would end the “weaponization” debate once and for all. It would transform transparency from a privilege granted by the benevolent into a right demanded by the citizenry. Speaker Dy has shown leadership by example; now he and his colleagues in the House and Senate must codify that example into law. The nation awaits similar concrete actions from the President, Vice President, and Chief Justice. It is time to move beyond rhetoric. End the excuses. Amend the law.