The Office of the Ombudsman, under Jesus Crispin Remulla, has officially lifted the stringent restrictions on public access to the Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) of government officials. A new unnumbered Memorandum Circular revoke the requirement that public officers consent before their SALNs could be disclosed, marking a return to broader transparency.

Under the new policy, SALN requests will be honored except under specific conditions for instance, when the documents are not on file, the request serves a commercial purpose, the requester has a record of misuse, or the request is linked to harassment. To safeguard sensitive personal data, redactions will be made to addresses, minors’ personal information, identification numbers, and signatures of declarants.

Requests for SALNs are to be filed at the Ombudsman’s Public Assistance and Corruption Prevention offices, with documents becoming available for inspection or reproduction starting 10 working days after agencies submit final forms. The memo also obligates users who publish or broadcast SALN-derived information to submit their output to the Ombudsman within five days, enabling monitoring and possible follow-up actions.

Remulla’s move reverses a 2020 policy under his predecessor, Samuel Martires, which imposed strict controls requiring consent or court orders before SALNs could be released. Critics had criticized those constraints as undermining the public’s right to transparency. 

Proponents of the shift argue that renewed SALN access empowers media and citizens to conduct lifestyle checks and strengthens accountability. Meanwhile, some observers caution about possible misuse or misrepresentation of the disclosed data, underlining the importance of safeguards and responsible reporting.

The new memorandum will take effect 15 days following its publication, ushering in a more open era for SALN disclosures.