Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should also subject himself to a lifestyle check if he truly wants to set an example in the government’s anti-corruption drive.
She expressed support for the President’s order to investigate public officials’ wealth amid allegations of massive corruption in flood control projects. But Hontiveros stressed that the measure would be more credible if Marcos started with his own Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).
“It would be a good example and leadership if it would include his own SALN,” Hontiveros said, adding that such records are public documents covered by the principle of freedom of information.
The senator said lifestyle checks could help promote transparency, but warned they must be paired with clear accountability. “Maybe lifestyle checks are not bad because it can help create an environment of transparency. But of course, it should be accompanied by negative reinforcement… the certainty that somebody would be arrested, prosecuted, and if found guilty, convicted and punished,” she explained.
Hontiveros also declared her readiness to undergo the process, saying, “I’m willing to do it and more willing if it’s with the entire minority,” pointing out that the public will see her “middle-class lifestyle.”
She described the lifestyle check as a chance for officials to prove good faith, especially at a time when corruption allegations have cast a heavy shadow over the government’s flood control projects.
