Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero is renewing his long-standing campaign for transparency in public service, refiling a bill that would require all government officials and employees to waive their rights under existing bank secrecy laws.
The proposed measure seeks to compel all public servants—except those in honorary roles—to submit a written waiver authorizing the Office of the Ombudsman to scrutinize their bank deposits and investment accounts, including foreign currency holdings.
“This bill has languished for too long,” Escudero said, expressing optimism that lawmakers can finally turn “the rhetoric of transparency into actionable policy.”
Escudero has been calling for the lifting of bank secrecy protections for public officials since 2013, citing that the principle of public trust demands full accountability from government workers. While originally enacted to promote savings and investment, the senator argued that Republic Acts 1405 and 6426 are now being used to mask corrupt activities.
“The law may have served their purpose in the past, but their rigidity has enabled corruption to thrive under the guise of confidentiality,” he said. “We are the last country standing in preserving absolute secrecy. That distinction doesn’t protect democracy but rather, it undermines it.”
He emphasized that public officials with nothing to hide should welcome this move as a concrete step toward rebuilding public trust.
Beyond this flagship measure, Escudero also filed several other reform-oriented bills, including those that would shield local governments from undue interference, ease compliance and tax burdens on MSMEs, increase benefits for government workers, and modernize existing labor and real estate laws. These efforts, he said, are aimed at bringing systemic improvements to governance and economic resilience.
