Ombudsman, CSC mum on Gloria’s SALNs

Getting the responsible officials to talk about issues of compliance in form and in substance with the Statements on Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) law is sure to test anyone’s patience and stamina. It took two weeks for Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez to respond to a simple request from the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) for an interview on the declared net worth of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The reply, sent by Ana Blesilda A. Manglallan, Associate Graft Investigator I, even turned out to be just a curt notice: “The said (PCIJ) letter was assigned to one of the lawyers of the Office of Legal Affairs for appropriate action." Gutierrez, a law school classmate of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, is supposedly swamped with work and meetings she could not sit down for an interview with, or even answer phone calls from, the PCIJ, according to her staff. Meantime, Civil Service Commission (CSC) Chairman Ricardo Saludo has yet to formally respond to a similar PCIJ request, also filed two weeks ago. Saludo, a former journalist, had served as deputy spokesperson, Presidential Management Staff director, and secretary to the Cabinet of Arroyo before he was appointed CSC chair in 2008. His chief executive assistant, lawyer Grace Ramos, did call late last Friday, but just to say that the PCIJ request was still being discussed by the commissioners. Saludo, according to another staff, was also busy last week for a taping of his television program, “Republic Service" that airs every Friday nights on the state-subsidized television channel NBN-4. Yesterday, Saludo’s deputy, Ramos, called again, this time to say that Saludo could not grant the PCIJ an interview because questions about compliance with the SALN law might require “judicial determination" by a court of law, and that whatever he tells the PCIJ might be interpreted as a CSC ruling. The PCIJ explained that the request was for a simple interview about the CSC’s lead role in enforcing the implementing rules and regulations of the law requiring officials to file SALNs before the April 30 deadline every year. - Malou Mangahas, PCIJ