Palace says enforcement of Anti-Money Laundering Law best way to go after corrupt gov’t officials

September 24, 2020

Malacanang said on Wednesday that Ombudsman Samuel Martires seemed right in doing away with lifestyle checks among government officials.

In an interview with CNN Philippines, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque expressed belief that it is more important to use the Anti-Money Laundering Law in going after erring government officials.

"As a lawyer, it seemed that the Ombudsman is right because it's very easy to hide ill-gotten wealth. Perhaps there are times the corrupt ones will flaunt it. But times have changed. Now, they could live modest lives even they could use dummies for their bank deposits and can pretend to have modest lives even if they have trillions and billions of ill-gotten wealth," he said.

But Roque also noted that there are corrupt officials who are not ashamed of what they are doing.

Thus, he said, "that's where the lifestyle check could become effective."

"But we, of course, respect the decision of the Ombudsman; he is a constitutional body. And I think what he considers as more important would be enforcement of the anti-money laundering law because that's really the best way to determine if one's income as a government employee can justify his assets that are hidden," Roque added.

During the budget hearing in the House of Representatives Tuesday, Martires revealed that since his appointment at the Office of the Ombudsman in 2018, there were no more lifestyle checks being conducted to government officials and employees.

He said he has questions and doubts about the provisions on lifestyle checks under Republic Act No. 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

Martires, a former Supreme Court associate justice, even suggested the need to amend the law due to some provisions, which he found as either confusing or simply illogical. Celerina Monte/DMS