Summary

• Norms of Conduct of Public Officials and Employees

• Section 4 of this act contains the Norms of Conduct of
Public Officials and Employees.
– Commitment to public interest
– Professionalism
– Justness and sincerity.
– Political neutrality.
– Responsiveness to the public.
– Nationalism and patriotism.
– Commitment to democracy.
– Simple living.
• 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.
– Act promptly on letters and requests.
– Submit annual performance reports.
– Process documents and papers expeditiously.
– Act immediately on the public’s personal
transactions.
– Make documents accessible to the public.
• 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:
• Years of service
• Quality and consistency of performance
• Obscurity of the position
• Level of salary
• Unique and exemplary quality of a certain achievement
• Risks or temptations inherent in the work
– Incentives and rewards may take the form of the following
• Bonuses
• Citations
• Directorships in Government Owned and Controlled Corporations
• Local and Foreign scholarship grants
• 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.
– Financial and material interest: Public officials and
employees cannot have financial or material interest in
their office, whether directly or indirectly
– 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, *************.
• 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.
– Assets
– Liabilities
– Net worth
– 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:
– Serving in a honorary capacity
– Laborers
– Casual or Temporary workers
• Remember, SALNs and Financial Disclosure are 2 separate documents that
a public servant must file.
• These 2 documents must contain:
– 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
– 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.
– all other assets such as investments, cash on hand or in banks, stocks, bonds, and
the like; — Self explanatory
– Liabilities — Your debts or obligations owed.
– all business interests and financial connections — All Business activities have to be
disclosed
• These documents must be filed:
• Within 30 days of assumption of office
• on or before April 30 of every year thereafter
• 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:
– Constitutional and National elective officials, with the Office of the Ombudsman
– Senators and Congressmen
– Secretaries of Senate and the House of Representatives
– Justices
– Clerk of Court of the Supreme Court
– Judges
– Court Administrator
– National executive officials under the Office of the President
– Regional and Local officials and employees, along with the regional deputy ombudsman
– 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.
– 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
– President
– Vice President
– Cabinet Members
– Philippine Congress
– Supreme court
– Constitutional Commissions (CSC, COMELEC, COA)
– Constitutional Offices
– 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.
• 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.
• These are the officials that can be impeached:
– President
– Vice President
– Members of the Supreme Court
– Members of the Constitutional Commissions
– Ombudsman
• They can be impeached for these reasons, known as the
Articles of Impeachment if a complaint passes through
– Culpable violation of the Constitution
– Treason
– Bribery
– Graft and Corruption
– High Crimes
– Betrayal of public trust
• Other officers and employees are removed through law
but not impeachment.
• Thank You and More Power