The Civil Service Commission (CSC) reminded government employees that they have less than one month left to prepare and submit their 2021 Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) to their respective departments, agencies, or offices, and urged them not to wait until the 30 May 2022 deadline.
CSC Resolution No. 2100339, circularized via Memorandum Circular No. 6, s. 2021, specifies the guidelines for the filing and submission of SALNs during exceptional circumstances or when the country is placed under a state of calamity and/or emergency. It allows online oath-taking and online filing of the SALN by all public officials and employees.
The guidelines also state that “all public officials and employees or those in affected area/s are given an additional period of thirty (30) days from 30 April of such year within which to comply with the filing of the SALN.”
“The rules issued by CSC extending the deadline of filing of SALN and allowing electronic oath-taking, filing, and submission of the same will still apply.”
“Given that the declaration of a State of Calamity due to COVID-19 has not yet been lifted, the rules issued by CSC extending the deadline of filing of SALN and allowing electronic oath-taking, filing, and submission of the same will still apply,” explained CSC Chairperson Karlo Nograles.
“I urge all concerned public officials and employees to comply with the mandatory filing of SALN as part of our commitment to the Filipino people to uphold the principle of public office as a public trust,” Nograles added.
CSC Resolution No. 2100339 requires government agencies to put in place processes and mechanisms to enable online oath-taking and the electronic filing of the SALN.
CSC Resolution No. 2100339 requires government agencies to put in place processes and mechanisms to enable online oath-taking and the electronic filing of the SALN, to ensure that the SALN electronically filed are verifiable, and to take measures in order for these to be protected under the provisions of relevant laws such as the Data Privacy Act of 2012.
For online oath-taking, the Administering Officer and Declarant may interact through communication technology, provided that the identity of the Declarant is verified, the Declarant affirms the contents of his or her SALN to be true and correct, and the signing of the SALN is done within sight of the Administering Officer.
The Declarant has the option to affix his or her signature on an electronic SALN, or use a wet ink signature on a physical document and scan it. This should then be transmitted electronically to the Administering Officer on the same day. The Administering Officer also has the option to sign electronically or use a wet ink signature on the SALN, then transmit the same back to the Declarant.
The Declarant may then send his or her SALN electronically to the human resource department/office of the concerned department, office, or agency in Portable Document Format or PDF. This shall be considered as a “duly executed SALN”. This shall also be considered “original”, and the printout thereof shall be considered a “duplicate original”.
Republic Act No. 6713 requires incumbent public officials and employees to file their SALN on or before 30 April of every year, statements of which must be reckoned as of the end of the preceding year.
All public officials and employees are required to file the SALN except:
• Those serving in honorary capacity – persons who are working in the government without service credit and without pay;
• Those whose position title is laborer – persons whose work depends on mere physical power to perform ordinary manual labor, and not one engaged in services consisting mainly of work requiring mental skill or business capacity, and involving the exercise of intellectual faculties;
• Those who are casual or temporary workers – persons hired to do work outside what is considered necessary for the usual operations of the employer’s business.
