What’s in a SALN anyway?

By law, SALNs must contain detailed information about an official’s personal and real property, loans and other responsibilities, and net worth, as well as business interests, financial connections, and relatives in government.

A president and two chief judges have been removed from office for failing to fully disclose their assets on their asset, liability and equity or SALN statements.

What’s in a SALN anyway?

At PCIJ, we view wealth disclosure as a key piece of a puzzle. It can provide clues about corruption, conflicts of interest or the illicit accumulation of wealth by public officials. It has often been used, as in the case of former President Joseph Estrada, to compare what officials reported in income and assets with their lifestyles and expenditures on luxury goods (or houses).

The anti-corruption law, Republic Law 3019, establishes penalties, including dismissal or dismissal, for officials with “inexplicable wealth.” This means cash, property, and assets that are out of proportion to an official’s salary and legitimate income. The SALN is a useful document to discover inexplicable riches.

Here are the top four things to look for in a SALN and some questions to ask about them.

Family details

The first part of a SALN consists of the name of the declarant, the address and the position in the position, as well as the details of his spouse and children. These bits of information may seem innocuous, but the address alone can give us an idea of ​​the lifestyle of an official. Who is the official married to? Can your combined income support your lifestyle? Have spouses or family members been appointed or elected to public office?

Assets, liabilities and equity

The net worth of an official is the value of his assets, less liabilities.

The assets section of a SALN consists of two parts: real and personal. An officer must provide details of all homes, land, and other similar properties that you own, including how much was paid for them, improvements made, and current and assessed fair market values.

Personal assets include investments, cash in hand or bank, stocks, bonds, works of art, jewelry, and the like.

Liabilities refer to personal debts, bank loans, and other financial obligations, both short and long term.

The things we generally look for are luxurious properties or extravagant lifestyles beyond the declarant’s means. We also look for any indication of understatement, nondisclosure, or an unexplained increase in net worth.

In The Lord of Makati: Can Binay Explain His Wealth ?, news reporter Miriam Grace A. Go found that former Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay had accumulated at least P80 million in real estate, which he did not disclose. in your SALN. Binay’s basic salary at that time was around 30,000 pesos a month.

When looking at assets and liabilities, we must bear in mind that anyone who acquires more property, net of liabilities, should have earned more in order to make new investments. Similarly, anyone who takes out loans must be creditworthy. Any movement in income, property or inheritance also has tax implications.

In 2011, we reported on increasing wealth and decreasing amounts of taxes paid by Ang Galing Pinoy’s representative, Juan Miguel ‘Mikey’ Arroyo and his wife Ma. Angela Montenegro Arroyo. This became the subject of a P73.85 million tax evasion complaint filed by the Internal Revenue Office. Arroyo was acquitted by the tax court in 2018.

Business interests and financial connections

A business interest is any existing interest in any business entity, whether as an owner, investor, developer, partner, shareholder, officer, managing director, executive, creditor and owner, with an expectation of return on equity.

A financial connection is any existing connection with any company, whether as a lawyer, legal consultant, financial or business consultant, accountant, auditor, and the like, with an expectation of remuneration for services.

We examine these details for conflicts of interest, which can occur if an officer has financial interests that may benefit or be adversely affected by the exercise of his or her power in office.

In 2018, news organizations reported that a security company owned by Attorney General José Cálida’s wife won multi-million dollar government contracts. These contracts were awarded after Calida’s appointment as lead government attorney in 2016. In her 2017 SALN, Calida disclosed a business interest in Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency Inc. (VISAI). He also identified his wife Milagros as president of VISAI.

Family members in government

The SALN begins and ends with details about the family.

Every official or employee must also reveal family members in the government, up to the fourth degree of civil kinship, whether of consanguinity or affinity. This includes bilas or the spouse of one’s husband’s brother or wife, also the wife of an older brother or a male cousin, and balae or the father of the son-in-law or daughter-in-law.

In this section, we verify the links that unite government officials within and between branches of government. For example, Martín Andanar, secretary of the Office of Presidential Communications Operations, has 16 family members who hold positions in local government, the judiciary, the Senate, and the Cabinet. According to his 2019 SALN, he has eight relatives of the Andanar clan and eight of the Aguilar and Villars from the city of Las Piñas. He is married to Alelee Aguilar, daughter of the mayor of the city of Las Piñas, Imelda Aguilar, niece of Senator Cynthia Villar and cousin of Secretary of Public Works Mark Villar. –PCIJ, October 2020