Fredenil Castro: ‘Not all House members are snakes’

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives may be a snake pit, but not all its inhabitants are snakes.

That’s according to Majority Leader Fredenil Castro, who defended the strict rules he and his colleagues have imposed on media and public access to their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs).

In an interview on The Chiefs on Cignal TV’s One News on Wednesday night, Castro responded to criticisms that he and his colleagues would try to protect themselves and hide their wealth by denying requests for SALN copies.

“While it may be true that there are snakes in the House of Representatives, not everybody is a snake,” he told his three interviewers.

“Some of them are crocodiles!” one of the three quipped.

Castro took the remark in stride, saying, “Crocodile? Again, that is part of the prejudgment and bias we have.”

He lamented that lawmakers, “unlike governors and mayors, are often portrayed (in movies and TV shows) as villains, heads of drug rings or other nefarious activities.”

“Because of this impression, there is prejudgment as to the conduct and fidelity of congressmen in the performance of their duties. It is not our business to protect our peers,” he said.

Castro made claims that are not supported by the strict SALN rules contained in Resolution 2467, which he authored and was adopted by the House.

He said a copy of a member’s wealth statement would be “automatically released” to a requesting journalist once the SALN review and compliance committee establishes the identity and legitimacy of the latter.

The guidelines do not provide for such automatic release. In fact, they are more stringent for journalists.

Under the resolution, a requesting party will be asked to provide all information about himself in a prescribed form and to state the purpose of the request, interest sought to be served and, if applicable, justification for access to previous SALNs.

He will be required to sign an undertaking that he will not use the SALN for any purpose other than the one stated in his request, will not use it commercially except as a news material and will not use it in such a way that it would put the declarant in danger or compromise his job. There are other prohibitions contained in the undertaking.

Another requirement: photocopies of at least two government-issued identification cards.

Section 12 of Rule V prescribes additional requirements for journalists: proof under oath of media affiliation and a certification of the accreditation of media organization as a legitimate media practitioner.

Earlier, Castro said  journalists covering the House would get the usual annual summary of SALN of the chamber’s members within 20 days from the April 30 SALN filing deadline.

In his Cignal TV interview, he said if a member refuses to have his SALN given to a requesting party, that is the time that the request reaches the House plenary session and the chamber could, by a majority vote, decide to release the document.

This resort to plenary intervention would give the requesting party the chance to challenge the “arbitrariness of the denial of a request,” Castro said.

Again, such assertion apparently does not find support in the rules.

Under Rule IV on “Review and Compliance,” the SALN committee is authorized “to act on all requests for copies of filed SALNs provided that access to copies of SALNs of House members by the public should also be approved by a majority of the House in plenary session.”

Such plenary approval requirement for any request is reiterated in Section 14 of Rule V on “Access to filed SALNs,” which provides that “access to copies of the SALNs of House members by the public should be referred to the House plenary for final determination.”

If the House approves a request, the requesting party is required to pay P300 for each copy of a SALN. 

Not all of the information contained in the wealth declaration will be disclosed.

The rules mandate that for “privacy and security reasons,” the director of the House records management service “shall, in all cases, redact or blacken” certain information, including the House member’s address, names of unmarried children below 18 years of age living in his household and exact location of real properties.

Also to be blackened or crossed out so they could not be read are the member’s business and financial interests, names of relatives in government and details of government-issued identification cards.

The Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees requires lawmakers and other government personnel to declare their business and financial interests in any corporation or business entity so the public, including the media, would know if they are committing conflict of interest or protecting or promoting the interests of relatives, friends or business associates.

The law prohibits public officers from getting themselves in such a situation.