Ombudsman suspends lifestyle checks on government officials, employees

MANILA, Philippines – Ombudsman Samuel Martires has temporarily suspended the conduct of lifestyle checks among government officials and employees.
“Ngayong ako’y nag-assume bilang Ombudsman, ipinatigil ko muna iyong lifestyle check dahil matagal na ako may question. May duda ako sa probisyon ng batas tungkol sa lifestyle check,” Martires said.
[Now that I assumed as the Ombudsman, I ordered the suspension of lifestyle check because I personally have questions regarding it. I doubt the provision of the law on lifestyle check.]
During Tuesday’s (September 22) hearing at the Lower House on the 2021 proposed budget of his office, Martires clarified why he also imposed stricter rules on the release of a statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN) of government officials.
Martires observed that many use such an important document for their own interest just to pin down their rivals.
The Ombudsman stressed the need to amend Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards of Public Officials and Employees because it is, most of the time, misconstrued.
“I was about to propose sa Congress to amend Republic Act 6713 because there are provisions there na hindi malabo pero parang walang hulog sa logic [which may be clear but illogical],” the former Supreme Court Justice said.
Martires believes no one has the right to judge any government employee for his or her priorities in life or if he or she chooses to live beyond his or her means.
“Let me explain why I suspended it. They say: ‘You are living beyond your means.’ There’s a government employee who earns about P50,000 a month and tries to save his money so he can buy his dream car. He was able to save money. When BMW announced a sale, he was able to give a down payment. He is able to pay for it monthly. Can we say he is living beyond his means? I don’t think so. Probably he must have distorted values. He must have distorted priorities,” he shared.
“Ano ang pakialam natin sa buhay ng may buhay kung hindi naman siya nagnanakaw? Kung wala siyang inaagrabyadong tao? Kung siya’y nangungutang lang para masunod ang layaw niya? [Why bother with another person’s life when he is not stealing anything? When he is not aggrieving anyone? If he borrows money just to buy himself luxury?] I mean this is something that we really have to re-define,” he added.
But the official clarified that his strict policy on the release of SALN is limited only to SALNs under the custody of his office.
He explained that a SALN has no use in several cases in court even in plunder but many are using it as well as the policy for lifestyle checking to malign the person of an employee of the government.
As for the agency’s budget, Ombudsman Martires expressed dismay over a slash in their proposed budget amounting to P4.6-B which they planned to use for hiring additional personnel for them to effectively execute their mandate.
Moving forward, the official wants to create a bureau that will focus on the administrative cases against public servants and to hire additional field investigators. MNP (with reports from Rey Pelayo)