Ombudsman probes SALN discrepancies of 26 ex-solons

Assistant Ombudsman Mico Clavano said that their office was investigating inconsistencies within the declared resources of 26 former congressmen in its investigations into the anomalous flood control scandal.

Clavano had obtained the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth of the past solons as he personally appeared before the House of Representatives last Tuesday, 14 April.

“We will look for their SALN, we would see if they had declared their interest in the companies that we believed are contracting companies that had contracts with the government. To show that there is a conflict of interest,” he said.

“We are looking into the disproportionate, the disproportion between of what they actually have and what they had declared,” he added.

Under Article VI, Section 14 of the Constitution, lawmakers are prohibited from having any connection or stakes within a contracting company that conducts transactions with the government as it was seen as a betrayal of public trust.

As part of its determination of conflict of interest, Clavano said that Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla had ordered lifestyle checks on the 26 ‘congtractors’ for its investigation.

If found guilty, the Assistant Ombudsman said that the individuals will be subjected to Republic Act 1379 which will grant the state the ability to seize any properties that have been unlawfully acquired.

“It is an easier route for us, dahil yung 1379 po, yung burden to show that they had declared everything, that all their assets are truly theirs are shifted to them,” he explained.

In spite of the acquisition of several SALNs from officials that the investigative body has yet to name, Clavano noted that it has yet to receive the documents of former Secretary General Sofonias Gabonada.

Gabonada had previously been named as a prime person of interest in the Ombudsman’s probe into ghost flood control projects.