Viral Portal News: secrecy

Escudero challenges fellow candidates to waive their bank secrecy rights

Unknown 6:07 AM Bank , candidates , challenges , Escudero , fellow , rights , secrecy , Their , waive

<ul><li style="text-align: justify;">VP bet Sen. Chiz Escudero called on fellow candidates to waive their bank secrecy rights</li> <li style="text-align: justify;">Escudero says corrupt officials can use the bank secrecy law to hide ill-gotten wealth</li> <li style="text-align: justify;">Escudero submits yearly a bank secrecy waiver with his SALN to fully disclose his finances</li> </ul>Independent Vice Presidential candidate and Senator Francis Escudero challenged his fellow candidates to waive their bank secrecy rights in order to assure the public that they do not have any ill-gotten wealth. Escudero pointed out that candidates both in the local and national level can easily hide behind the country’s bank secrecy law to avoid revealing funds amassed through corruption. “There is a perception that the bank secrecy law was meant to protect corrupt government officials as it shields their bank accounts from being scrutinized. And the only way to correct this perception is to require government officials and those gunning for elective posts on May 9, including me, to waive this right under RA 1405 (Law on the Secrecy of Bank Deposits),” Escudero said as earlier quoted by <a href="http://interaksyon.com/article/125166/chiz-to-fellow-candidates-prove-no-ill-gotten-wealth-waive-bank-secrecy-rights">InterAksyon</a>. The Senator, who once chaired the Senate Committee on Finance, had long pushed for the waiver of bank secrecy laws but only in so far as government officials and public officers are concerned. In fact, Escudero authored Senate Bill No. 16, currently pending in Congress, which aims to do just that. “Public office is a public trust and government officials and employees are all accountable to the public. To ensure that a government official or an employee does not use his or her position to plunder public coffers, it is necessary that we put in place a mechanism that will enable the government to audit the finances of civil servants,” Escudero explained. However, even without the bank secrecy waiver law in place, Escudero has already been submitting together with his sworn Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) a written waiver on secrecy of his bank deposits filed with the Office of the Ombudsman since 2010. He made a similar call to fellow candidates to do the same, in 2013 when he ran for re-election. <a href="http://kickerdaily.com/escudero-challenges-fellow-candidates-to-waive-their-bank-secrecy-rights/" rel="nofollow">Kicker Daily News</a>

VP bet Sen. Chiz Escudero called on fellow candidates to waive their bank secrecy rights Escudero says corrupt officials can use the bank se...