Norms of Conduct of Public Officials

and Employees
Section 4 of this act contains the Norms of Conduct of Public
Officials and Employees.

1. Commitment to public interest

2. Professionalism
3. Justness and sincerity.
4. Political neutrality.
5. Responsiveness to the public.
6. Nationalism and patriotism.
7. Commitment to democracy.
8. Simple living.

Summarizing these norms, we get the following.

Commitment to public interest: Employees and Officials

should put the public interest above their own, that means honesty
in usage of government funds and property and to be used for
office purposes only.

Professionalism: Government employees and officials should

do their duty in a competent manner just like in the private
industry, as the general public would be the ones that would
benefit from the services offered.
Justness and sincerity: Public Officials and Employees are
expected to have good morals. They are also not allowed to
discriminate by wealth.

Political neutrality: Public Officials and Employees are not

allowed to discriminate by political beliefs or ideology

Responsiveness to the public: Just like Professionalism,

government employees should provide the best service that they
can provide to the public and assist them with any concerns that
they have. They should provide info that the public can
understand clearly.

Nationalism and patriotism: Government officials and

employees are required to be loyal to the state, obviously since it is
the state itself who is paying the salary. It is a crime to change
nationalities or apply for immigration during his tenure.

Commitment to democracy: As the Philippines itself has a

democratic form of government where authority is derived from
the voting populace. Officials and Employees are expected to
uphold the constitution, recognize the superiority of civilian
authority to military and put the country above party lines or
persons.

Simple living: As public servants generally receive lower salaries

than private companies (Although retirement benefits for retiring
government officials are much, much better), they are expected to
live a lifestyle in proportion to their salary and not engage in
extravagance like some “instagram influencers”. This is why they
need to submit Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, to
check if there are any discrepancies.
These norms are enforced by the Constitutional office of the Civil
Service Commission, the ones who are in charge of the Civil
Service Exams.

Duties of Public Officials and

Employees.
In Section 5 of this Act, states the Duties of Public Officials
and Employees.

1. Act promptly on letters and requests.

2. Submit annual performance reports.
3. Process documents and papers expeditiously.
4. Act immediately on the public’s personal
transactions.
5. Make documents accessible to the public.

Summarizing these duties, we get the following

Act promptly on letters and requests: Government

employees are required within 15 working days to reply to
letters, emails, phone calls, etc. Must contain the action taken on
the request

Submit annual performance reports: 45 working

days from the end of the year, government offices are required to
submit annual performance reports as a basis to check the
performance of each office and to select outstanding officials and
employees. These reports are available for public viewing

Process documents and papers expeditiously: All official

documents and papers must be processed and completed at a
reasonable timeframe. No more than 3 signatories are required
and if that signatory is absent, The next officer would sign on his
behalf.

Act immediately on the public’s personal

transactions: Government employees must attend to the public
at all times.

Make documents accessible to the public: Non confidential

documents should be available for inspection by the public within
working hours.

System of Incentives and Rewards.

The government offers incentives and rewards to performing
government officials and employees. This is based on the
submission of Annual Performance Reports after the end of the
year. This is stated in Section 6 of the act.

The committee supervising this is the Committee on Awards to

Outstanding Public Officials and Employees. They are
composed of the following;

Ombudsman and Chairman of the Civil Service

Commission as Co-Chairmen.
Chairman of the Commission on Audit and 2
Government employees selected by the President of the
Philippines as Members.

Conferment of awards shall take into account the following:

1. Years of service
2. Quality and consistency of performance
3. Obscurity of the position
4. Level of salary
5. Unique and exemplary quality of a certain
achievement
6. Risks or temptations inherent in the work

Incentives and rewards may take the form of the following

1. Bonuses
2. Citations
3. Directorships in Government Owned and Controlled
Corporations
4. Local and Foreign scholarship grants
5. Paid Vacations

The awardees are automatically promoted to the next higher rank

with an upgraded salary. In case there is no next higher position or
it is not vacant, said position shall be included in the budget of the
office in the next General Appropriations Act.
Prohibited Acts and Transactions
Section 7 of the act contains the prohibited acts and transactions.
Doing these acts are considered unlawful by the constitution.

1. Financial and material interest: Public officials and

employees cannot have financial or material interest in
their office, whether directly or indirectly
2. Outside employment and other activities related
thereto: These are divided into 3 separate parts. These
acts are prohibited during their incumbency

a. Having a stake or ownership of a private enterprise that is

handled by their office

b. Cannot practice their profession unless allowed by the law

which should not conflict with their current functions and duties

c. Refer any person to a private enterprise to any position which

has pending or regular transactions with their office.

These restrictions continue for 1 year after leaving the public

office (for appointed public officers only, not employees).

3. Disclosure and/or misuse of confidential

information: Self explanatory, If it is confidential info, it is not
to be disclosed.
4. Solicitation or acceptance of gifts: Officials and Employees
cannot accept gifts during working hours and if it involves their
office. It is considered a form of bribery.

Statements and Disclosure

If you are a public employee, just like officers, you have to submit
SALN also. The only difference is that your assets would be private
to the public and only to be inspected internally. Only the top
public officials like Congress, Executive Cabinets, Supreme Court
and the like would be publicized, although the media only
discloses the total net worth, this is how we would know who is the
richest congressman. But recent rules have been enacted by the
House of Representatives that would require majority vote to
disclose a particular congressman's SALN. I am pretty sure these
crocodiles have something to hide since Sereno’s quo warranto
ruling. Philippine politics ain’t for ******* amateurs,
*************.

Typical filipino politician in the wild, colorized

Now back to the topic. SALNs are used to identify unexplained

wealth and potential conflicts of interest, which can raise
eyebrows. These have been used in the Impeachment trials of
Joseph Estrada and Renato Corona, which is why congressmen
have decided to restrict its access. The courts will have to
determine if those rules are constitutional or not.

Without further ado, here is Section 8 — Statements and

Disclosure.
As specified in section 8, the public has the right to know the
following under oath.

1. Assets
2. Liabilities
3. Net worth
4. Financial and Business interests

They also have to include these 4 of their spouses and unmarried

children 18 years of age in their SALNs

Those who are exempt from filing SALNs are:

1. Serving in a honorary capacity

2. Laborers
3. Casual or Temporary workers

Remember, SALNs and Financial Disclosure are 2 separate

documents that a public servant must file.

These 2 documents must contain:

1. Real property, its improvements, Acquisition

Costs, Assessed value and Fair Market Value. —
Real property is your owned land plus house and any
structure that you cannot move, or whatever
improvements made in that land that can increase its
value
 2. Personal property and acquisition cost —
Personal property is the things that you own that you
have bought with your own money or assets. You
have to file the acquisition cost, not current value
whether it appreciates or depreciates.
3. all other assets such as investments, cash on
hand or in banks, stocks, bonds, and the like; —
Self explanatory
4. Liabilities — Your debts or obligations owed.
5. all business interests and financial
connections — All Business activities have to be
disclosed

These documents must be filed:

1. Within 30 days of assumption of office

2. on or before April 30 of every year thereafter
3. Within 30 days from the separation of office

Husbands and Wives who are both public officials or employees

may file jointly or separately

SALNs and Financial Disclosure must be filed by these persons:

1. Constitutional and National elective officials,

with the Office of the Ombudsman
2. Senators and Congressmen
3. Secretaries of Senate and the House of
Representatives
 4. Justices
5. Clerk of Court of the Supreme Court
6. Judges
7. Court Administrator
8. National executive officials under the Office of
the President
9. Regional and Local officials and employees,
along with the regional deputy ombudsman
10. Officers of the armed forces from the rank
of colonel or naval captain, with the Office of the
President, and those below said ranks, with the
Deputy Ombudsman in their respective regions.
11.All other public officials and employees, defined
in Republic Act 3019 (ANTI-GRAFT AND
CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT), as amended, with
the Civil Service Commission.

As stated in Article 11 Section 16 of the constitution, these are

the officials that would disclose their SALNs publicly

1. President
2. Vice President
3. Cabinet Members
4. Philippine Congress
5. Supreme court
 6. Constitutional Commissions (CSC, COMELEC,
COA)
7. Constitutional Offices
8. AFP officers with general or flag rank

Identification and disclosure of relatives. — You must

disclose your relatives in the government.

Accessibility of documents. — The documents mentioned

should be made available for inspection at reasonable working
hours.

They must be available for copying and reproduction after 10

working days from the time of filing

Any person requesting a copy of a statement shall be required

to pay a reasonable fee to cover the cost of reproduction
and mailing of such statement, as well as the cost of
certification.

SALNs and Financial Disclosures have a retention rate of 10

years, after that, they can be destroyed unless needed in an
ongoing investigation.

These documents cannot be used for any purpose contrary to

morals or public policy, or for commercial purposes other by
media for purpose of dissemination.

Divestment
According to Section 9 of this Act. A public official or employee
shall not have conflicts of interest. If it arises, he should resign
from his position within 30 days from assumption and 60
days for his shareholdings or interest.

Those who are exempted from this are the same as those
exempted from filing SALNs and Financial Disclosure.

Penalties
Any public official or employee, whether or not currently
employed who commits any violation of this act will be subjected
to a fine not exceeding 6 months salary or suspension not
exceeding 1 year or removal, depending on the gravity of the
offense after hearing. If the violation is punishable under another
law, if it has a heavier penalty, that would be charged and
persecuted under that law.

Violations of Sections 7, 8 and 9 (Prohibited acts and

transactions, Statements and Disclosures and Divestment
respectively) are subjected to imprisonment not exceeding 5
years or a fine not exceeding 5000 pesos or both, and by the
discretion of the court, disqualified from holding public office.

Any violation proven in a proper administrative proceeding shall

be sufficient cause of removal, even though no criminal charges
will be filed.

Private individuals who participate with these charges would be

tried jointly along with the public officer or employee, with the
same penalties.
If any official or employee would bring a complaint to a person
who violates the prohibited acts regarding SALNs and Financial
disclosures (Section 8D) will be fined not more than 25000 pesos.

The Civil Service Commission will be the ones responsible for

enacting this law, while relevant committees in the Senate and
House of Representatives will review SALNs and Financial
Disclosures to ensure compliance.

That's the relevant information that you need to know about RA

6713. Another important topic is Article 11 of the Philippine
Constitution.

Accountability of Public Officers

Article 11 of the Philippine Constitution contains the ways that
public officials can be held accountable. It also states the nature of
public office in the constitution
Section 1. Public office is a public trust. Public
officers and employees must, at all times, be
accountable to the people, serve them with
utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and
efficiency; act with patriotism and justice, and
lead modest lives.
As such, public officers and employees need to be accountable.
Impeachment is one of the methods in the constitution to remove
an official from his position as high ranking officials are immune
to criminal charges and potential conflicts of interest may arise as
the persecution answers to the Department of Justice which is
under the Office of the President. The Ombudsman may file
charges to a special court called the Sandiganbayan which handles
cases of Graft and Corruption or Municipal Trial Courts for other
charges outside of the jurisdiction of Sandiganbayan.

Source: BBC News.

These are the officials that can be impeached:

1. President
2. Vice President
3. Members of the Supreme Court
4. Members of the Constitutional Commissions
5. Ombudsman

They can be impeached for these reasons, known as the Articles

of Impeachment if a complaint passes through

1. Culpable violation of the Constitution

2. Treason
3. Bribery
4. Graft and Corruption
5. High Crimes
 6. Betrayal of public trust

Other officers and employees are removed through law but not
impeachment.

Impeachment process, simplified

The House of Representatives has the authority to initiate all

cases of impeachment process, and make rules for the procedure.

Fast tracking an impeachment process as stated in

Article 11 Section 3.4 requires 1/3 of the vote from the
house. Trial shall commence in the senate

Here are the summarized steps for impeachment by the

constitution.

1. Verified complaint of impeachment may be filed

by a congressman or any citizen endorsed by a
congressman.
2. Included in the order of business within 10
session days
3. Referred to the proper committee within 3
session days
4. The committee then conducts a hearing and
should have a majority vote for the complaint to
proceed
5. The committee submits its report to the house
within 60 session days with the resolution.
 6. The resolution should be calendared for
consideration within 10 session days from the
receipt.
7. It takes 1/3 of the vote from the congressmen to
approve the resolution, with the articles of
impeachment.
8. No impeachment proceedings shall be initiated
against the same official more than once within
a period of one year.
9. The Senate has the sole authority to try all cases
of impeachment
10. If the President is on trial, the Chief Justice
will preside, but will not vote
11.2/3 of the Senate is needed to convict that
official for impeachment.
12. Judgement of impeachment cases are only
limited to removal from office and
disqualification. The impeached official can now
be subjected to trial according to law.
13. It is up to the congress to make rules on
impeachment procedures to carry out the
purpose of the section.

As stated, an impeachment is not like a criminal trial, the only

purpose is to remove the official from his office, impeached
officials can be acquitted or pardoned.
Ombudsman
If the Solicitor General is the legal counsel of the government and
represents the government from any charges filed to it.
The Ombudsman would be the one to investigate and prosecute
government officials accused of crimes. Along with the deputies,
they are the protectors of the people.

Known as Tanodbayan in Filipino, the Ombudsman is responsible

for keeping government officials accountable. It is an independent
office.

The Office of the Ombudsman is created by the

Constitution. Article 11 Section 5.

It is composed of the Ombudsman, Deputy Ombudsman,

each deputy for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, and for
the Military and Police.

According to the Civil Service Law, Officials and Employees aside

from the deputies shall be appointed by the Ombudsman.

Requirements for the Ombudsman and the Deputies

1. Natural born filipino citizens

2. 40 years old at the time of appointment
3. Recognized probity and independence
4. Member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines
5. Not have been a candidate for any elective office
in the preceding elections
 6. 10 years experience of being a judge or practiced
law in the Philippines

The Ombudsman and the deputies are also subject

to Impeachment.

The President appoints the Ombudsman and the deputies from

the list of 6 nominees from the Judicial and Bar council. Three
nominees every vacancy of the position. No confirmation will be
needed by the congress and the seat shall be filled 3 months after
they occur.

They will receive the same salary and not to be decreased, and will
serve for 7 years without reappointment. They are not qualified to
run for office immediately after cessation from office.

These are the Powers, Functions and Duties of the Office of the
Ombudsman

1. Investigate on its own, or on complaint by any

person, any act or omission of any public
official, employee, office or agency, when such
act or omission appears to be illegal, unjust,
improper, or inefficient.
2. Direct, upon complaint or at its own instance, any public
official or employee of the Government, or any
subdivision, agency or instrumentality thereof, as well as
of any government-owned or controlled corporation
with original charter, to perform and expedite any
act or duty required by law, or to stop, prevent,
and correct any abuse or impropriety in the
performance of duties.
3. Direct the officer concerned to take appropriate
action against a public official or employee at
fault, and recommend his removal, suspension,
demotion, fine, censure, or prosecution, and
ensure compliance therewith.
4. Direct the officer concerned, in any appropriate
case, and subject to such limitations as may be
provided by law, to furnish it with copies of
documents relating to contracts or transactions
entered into by his office involving the
disbursement or use of public funds or
properties, and report any irregularity to the
Commission on Audit for appropriate action.
5. Request any government agency for assistance
and information necessary in the discharge of
its responsibilities, and to examine, if necessary,
pertinent records and documents.
6. Publicize matters covered by its investigation
when circumstances so warrant and with due
prudence.
7. Determine the causes of inefficiency, red tape,
mismanagement, fraud, and corruption in the
Government and make recommendations for
their elimination and the observance of high
standards of ethics and efficiency.
8. Promulgate its rules of procedure and exercise
such other powers or perform such functions or
duties as may be provided by law.
The office of the ombudsman enjoys fiscal autonomy, and
approved appropriations from the office are automatically
released.

Other Rules
The state has the right to recover properties which are
acquired unlawfully and cannot be barred by prescription,
latches, or estoppel.

Public officers and employees are required to uphold the

constitution and pledge allegiance to the country. Seeking
citizenship to another country while in tenure is punishable by
law

That’s it for RA 6713 and Article 11 of the Philippine Constitution.

Very lengthy but required to memorize all of this.