Thousands of Filipinos were quick to bash Mayor Rodrigo Duterte after a supposed exposé by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV that he allegedly has around Php211 million at a Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI) branch.
But how much do these people know about SALNs (Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth), anyway? Better yet, how do YOU know about SALNs?
Cebu-based lawyer, Atty. Regal Oliva, weighs in on the issue, explaining about SALNs to clueless netizens and revealing why Duterte did not actually lie in his SALN.
Atty. Oliva’s Facebook post opened with “TIME PA! Malacañang wants Duterte to explain undeclared wealth. Who said there is UNDECLARED WEALTH?”
In his exposé, Trillanes revealed that Duterte had those millions in his bank account as of July 20, 2014 but did not declare the money in his 2014 SALN.
Photo credit: The Philippine Star
First off, all government employees and officials (yes, including politicians!) are required to submit their SALNs at the end of each year that they are in service. The SALN is a legal, official document which could be used against you should you fail to declare supposed ‘hidden’ wealth (as Trillanes is accusing Duterte now) since you are supposed to declare everything you own in this sworn statement.
So, was Trillanes right all along? Well, not quite! Because the SALN merely requires you to declare your assets and liabilities as of the end of the year, and you can lump all types of money (cash on hand or in bank accounts) into one entry; thus, even if Duterte received that Php211 million in his account, 1) he is not required to reveal his bank account number/s, 2) he is not required to declare that amount in his SALN if he had spent the money before the year ended, and 3) he is not required to show how exactly he spent that Php211 million he allegedly received.
Therefore, even if, for the sake of argument/example and setting aside bank secrecy laws, Duterte actually received Php211 million in his BPI account, he did not actually lie when he declared only a few thousand pesos in his SALN for that year!
Oliva explained, “If your bank account has a meager balance on December 31, 2014, miski 100 billion pesos pa ang pumasok dyan during the calendar year, ngunit wala ka ng pera on December 31 (even if Php100 billion was deposited into your account during the calendar year but you had no money in the account by December 31), you can only declare what is inside your bank on that particular date.”
Oliva’s explanation is backed with legal basis. In fact, you can find this in “Q and A on SALN” released by the Civil Service Commission (CSC):
How are earnings and income from other sources declared?
These shall either form part of the declarant’s cash on hand or in bank which shall be determined as of December 31 of the preceding year.
Click here to verify/check the Q and A on SALN or download the SALN form from the CSC website.
Properties Declared in SALN
Trillanes and other detractors are also accusing Duterte of not declaring the alleged billions worth of properties but as Atty. Oliva pointed out, “the value of the properties that is asked in the SALN is the ASSESSED VALUE by the Local Assessor and not the Market Value as purchased.”
He added, “And it is public knowledge that the assessed value is almost always ridiculously LOW.” Therefore, there is no UNDECLARED WEALTH.
“Duterte, as I see it did not violate any laws of undeclaration, misdeclaration or underdeclaration in his SALN. This is purely election gimmikry by a soldier who betrayed the Armed Forces and caused the destruction of my favorite hotel (the Manila Peninsula) in Makati!” Oliva concluded.
In jest, Atty. Oliva added, “Tumahimik ka na Trillanes ipapakain kita sa mga gutom kong barkadang bakla! (Shut up, Trillanes, or I’ll feed you to my hungry gay friends!)”
Read Oliva’s full explanation in this post.