More lawmakers ready to sign waivers
By Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star) Updated May 25, 2012 12:00 AM Comments (46) 
MANILA, Philippines - More lawmakers expressed willingness to sign waivers to open their bank accounts to the public in response to the challenge of Chief Justice Renato Corona. APEC party-list Rep. Ponciano Payuyo said he is taking up Corona’s challenge.
“I have nothing to hide,” Payuyo said.
He said all public servants or government workers “must at all times be accountable to the public and to be transparent on all his or her dealings.”
“I have nothing to hide so I am letting the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue), the AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council) and other government agencies, and more importantly, the public to scrutinize whatever wealth I have, no matter how minuscule it is,” Payuyo said.
Reports said Cebu Reps. Rachel del Mar, Ben Hur Salimbangon, and Gabriel Luis Quisumbing announced their intention to issue similar waivers.
Ilocos Sur Rep. Ryan Singson announced yesterday that he is ready to sign a waiver to open his bank records and other assets to the public following Corona’s challenge to congressmen to issue waivers to release their bank and investment records.
Singson is one of the 188 congressmen who signed the impeachment complaint against Corona.
Corona testified at the Senate impeachment court last Tuesday and signed a waiver in front of the senator-judges, but said he would release the waiver only if the 188 lawmakers who signed the impeachment complaint and Sen. Franklin Drilon also sign their own waivers.
Corona later ordered his defense lawyers to distribute blank waiver documents to the congressman-prosecutors during Tuesdays’ impeachment trial at the Senate.
Lead prosecutor Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. told the Senate court that he and his colleagues in the prosecution were not signing the document.
Drilon also refused to sign any waiver.
Singson said that the Chief Justice would have more public sympathy if he signed the waiver without any condition.
Kalinga party-list Rep. Abigail Faye Ferriols, ACT party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio, and Pangasinan Rep. Kimi Cojuangco said they would issue waivers on their bank accounts.
“I’m rising to the challenge given by Chief Justice Renato Corona. I am accepting the invitation and challenge of the Chief Justice for transparency and public accountability,” said Ferriols, who already signed last Wednesday a waiver on her bank accounts and other assets.
Ferriols even posted a copy of the waiver on her Facebook account.
Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III said Corona’s challenge to all 188 signatories to the impeachment complaint to sign the waiver was “almost laughable.”
“There are appropriate venues to hold the prosecutors accountable, like the ethics committee (in the House of Representatives) and the Office of the Ombudsman,” Tañada said.
He said he would not sign any waiver since he is not on trial, adding he respects the move of some of his colleagues to allow the scrutiny of their bank accounts.
KMU supports waiver of lawmakers
Meanwhile, militant labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) supported Corona’s challenge to lawmakers to sign a waiver to open their bank accounts and other assets to the public.
KMU chair Elmer Labog said the workers urged Drilon and the 188 congressmen to bare their bank accounts.
“We dare Sen. Drilon and the 188 legislators to sign their waivers with the same speed that they signed the impeachment complaint against CJ Corona. We dare them to speak with the same tone of self-righteousness that they used when they signed the complaint,” Labog said.
He added that President Aquino, who claims to be a strong opponent of graft and corruption, should use his immense influence over Congress to make the legislators sign the waivers.
He said the public disclosure of the majority of the country’s legislators would be good for workers and the poor.
“It is in the interest of workers and the poor to have access to the bank accounts and financial records of both CJ Corona on the one hand and the country’s 188 legislators and Sen. Drilon on the other,” Labog said.
KMU said the Chief Justice’s dare is most welcome, as far as the country’s workers and the poor are concerned.
– With Mayen Jaymalin, Teddy Molina
unsay imong ikasulti ani?
ang hagit ni CJ Corona
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