Waiving bank secrecy for public officials

EDITORIAL

Early Senate approval of a bill requiring all public officials and regular government employees to sign a waiver that will allow the Ombudsman and other agencies to look into their bank deposits will help plug loopholes in our anti-graft laws and discourage thieves from plying their trade in the corridors of power.

If passed into law, no government official or employee can hide behind the cloak of bank secrecy laws to protect their ill-gotten wealth, according to Sen. Francis Escudero, chair of the committee on justice and human rights. He said the measure is aimed at maintaining honesty and integrity in public service by requiring government employees to be open and transparent in all of their financial transactions and dealings.

It covers all public officials and employees, except those who serve in an honorary capacity, laborers and casual or temporary workers. The measure requires a yearly submission of a waiver in favor of the Ombudsman, the Anti-Money Laundering Council and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to obtain from all financial institutions, public or private, domestic or overseas, information and documents on their financial assets, deposits, investments in bonds and securities.

Any public official or employee who refuses to execute the waiver shall not be allowed to assume office or continue to hold office, aside from facing other administrative, civil or criminal liabilities provided for under existing laws, and rules and regulations, Escudero said.

The officers and employees of the Office of the Ombudsman, AMLC and the BSP, on the other hand, are required to keep the information they obtain by reason of these waivers confidential, even after they leave office.

Escudero also said the bill also penalizes officers and employees of financial institutions who will refuse to honor the waivers or cooperate in the disclosure of the information required with imprisonment not exceeding six years and a fine of not less than P100,000 but not more than P1,000,000. The same penalties apply to officers or employees of the three government agencies who violate the confidentiality clause of the bill.

The bill is laudable, but there should also be measures to see to it that government agencies or bodies like the Office of the Ombudsman, in enforcing the bill, if turns into law, will not abuse their power in going after crooks in government.