MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang did not deny that its records office made redactions or placed black markings on some of the information stated in the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Networth (SALN) of the Cabinet members of President Rodrigo Duterte.
The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) questioned the matter recently.
PCIJ said it was an intensive redaction of pertinent information on the SALN submitted by the former and present Cabinet members as of December 31, 2016.
According to PCIJ report, from the 29 SALNs it investigated, 167 information was redacted, 28 SALNs gave concealed personal properties, 24 have redactions on the exact location of properties, while 23 SALNs did not show the cost of real properties.
Malacañang promised it will not redact pertinent information on the SALN aside from sensitive and personal information.
“And we learned also that four out of the six SALN repository agencies do redact the names of the unmarried minor children and the home address, then those will be redacted upon request.so the acquisition cost and the total net worth, the total assets, and the total liabilities will be disclosed,” said Presidential Communications Office Asec. Kris Ablan.
The National Privacy Commission pointed out that it is the right of the public to know the cost of the properties of public officials in accordance with transparency and important information must not conceal.
“The SALN law, for instance, what are the required fields? Real property, assets, liabilities, and net worth. Even if you look at these through the data privacy act, these are not sensitive personal information, therefore there is no restriction, hindrance, there’s no need to redact this information because they are information that is covered by the law,” said National Privacy Commission Deputy Commissioner Ivy Patdu.
The Palace has mentioned before that it has made redactions to protect the right to privacy of the government officials. — Rosalie Coz | UNTV News and Rescue
