A group of overseas Filipino workers in Jeddah has called on all officials of the Philippine Government to announce their hidden cash deposits not declared in their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN). Yusuf Germino of the Kaagapay ng Bawat OFW Advocacy Group said he decided to initiate the movement after Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona admitted before the senator – judges that he has an undeclared huge amount of cash deposits in his (SALN) at the conclusion of the impeachment hearing few days ago. “Now is the time we must make a movement of support to any group or individual that pushes all elected officials from the president down to the lowest rank to declare their own cash deposits possibly hidden in foreign currency accounts.” Germino announced. During the 42nd day of the impeachment hearing, Corona admitted that he has $2.4 million in four dollar accounts and he has also around P80 million in his peso accounts. According to Article XI, Sec. 17 of the Philippine Constitution, a public officer or employee shall, upon assumption of office and as often thereafter as may be required by law, submit a declaration under oath of his assets, liabilities, and net worth. In the case of the President, the Vice-President, the Members of the Cabinet, the Congress, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Commissions and other constitutional offices, and officers of the armed forces with general or flag rank, the declaration shall be disclosed to the public in the manner provided by law. But Corona said that he did not report his dollar deposits in his SALN because he believes these are covered by the confidentiality clause in the Foreign Currency Deposits Act. under Section 8 of Republic Act No. 6426. He also did not report his peso accounts that contained commingled funds. Another Kaagapay ng Bawat OFW official, Atoy Esguerra, asked if any of the 188 senators and congressmen had declared their dollar account? He said the Impeachment court would gain credibility if it charges those guilty of not disclosing their cash assets in their SALN. Jawbee Bolanio added, “Amid the tremors, the President of the Republic, his appointees, his allies in all branches of government and all those that had initiated and supported the impeachment process in the name of good governance could no longer take refuge in the convenient excuse, ‘we are not on trial here'. No excuse could be so simplistic; nothing as evasive; nothing, equally pathetic.” Another OFW, Rico Janohan, said, “What transpired during the impeachment will become a baseline for good governance in our country; transparency in all aspect of the lives of the officials that should be followed in the government service.” Germino urged lawmakers to make it mandatory for all candidates running for public office to declare all their SALN before allowing them to file their certificate of candidacy. “I'm not an expert on law and I do not know if such a law exists in our country, but what I only want is to make sure that everything is transparent for good governance,” he emphasized. __
