Malacanang assured on Wednesday the Senate that the executive would cooperate should it call officials in an investigation regarding redactions made by some Cabinet officials on their December 2016  statements of assets, liabilities and net worth of the Cabinet officials.

Opposition Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has filed a resolution calling for a Senate investigation on the blackening of some information on the SALN of certain Cabinet officials.

"The Executive would cooperate and would attend the investigation on SALNs, if and once called by the Senate," said Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a statement.

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism earlier reported about the redactions made by some Cabinet officials on their SALN, which was not the practice before.

The Presidential Communications Operations Office, the lead agency in implementing the executive order on the Freedom on Information, has said that the redactions were made in accordance with the Data Privacy Act of 2012.

The PCOO has said the Data Privacy Act has to prevail over the executive order on FOI because it is a statute.

Based on the PCIJ report, PCOO Secretary Martin Andanar was one among the Cabinet officials with the most number of redactions in his SALN.

Abella said the implementation of an executive order on FOI was a learning process, especially with the concurrent application of the Data Privacy Act.

"The Executive has raised the SALN issue with the National Privacy Commission and we are waiting for their guidance. Meanwhile, we reiterate that there were no violations committed related to the release of SALNs of some Cabinet members," he said. Celerina Monte/DMS