MANILA, Philippines — The Civil Service Commission (CSC) is adopting a new form for statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN) that will address gray areas in the old form and serve as a “wealth-tracker” among government officials and workers.

CSC Chairman Francisco Duque disclosed this last Friday in a broadcast statement to regional officials.

He said the new form is more detailed and aims to minimize confusion on the properties owned by a public official or worker. “The (new) SALN is a wealthtracker.

You’ll be able to find out whether the employee is spending so much more than what he actually earns. That is why the new SALN is very clear. You have to declare the income, the amount, source of income, and you have to put there your personal and family expenditures,” he said.

Duque said the SALNs will be used as a tool for transparency to check if a government official or employee is declaring his actual wealth.

Resurreccion Pueyo, CSC regional director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said his office would strictly enforce Memorandum Circular No. 19, issued on February 1, enjoining all civil servants to declare the financial and business interests of their spouses and unmarried children under 18 years of age living in their households, including the amounts and sources of their income, personal and family expenses, and income taxes paid for the preceding year.

Under the revised SALN form, the CSC official said, personal properties or assets must be classified as either “tangible” or “intangible.”

Pueyo said the CSC has come out with a primer on how to fill out the new SALN form to guide users and set the deadline for the filing of the 2011 SALNs for April 30, pointing out that husband and wife who are both public servants can file their statements jointly or separately.

Pueyo said the new SALN will be required from all ARMM officials and employees, covering 2011 onwards.

Other local CSC officials said the new SALN form would boost ARMM caretaker-Governor Mujiv Hataman’s avowed campaign to rid the regional autonomous bureaucracy of graft and corrupt practices.

This will also be an “acid test” for Hataman himself and the pool of new officials he brought into the region.

In his published statement, Duque cited the case of Customs clerk Paulino Elevado who was suspended and is now facing a lifestyle check for allegedly driving a Porsche and beating up a student after a car chase.

He said a review of the old SALN forms showed that there were loopholes in the forms that would allow someone to manipulate the figures being reported.

This is why, he said, there is an argument that a filer could put a zonal or assessed value of a property, instead of the fair market value and real acquisition cost of a property.

He also said the new form allows a filer to state if he is paying for a property even if ownership had not yet been transferred. “Of course, absolute proof of ownership of a property is when the new owner has the title,” he said.

Earlier, President Benigno S. Aquino III submitted to Congress a new version of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill.

Under the Aquino administration’s version of the FOI Bill, the President, Vice President, members of the Cabinet, senators, congressmen, Supreme Court justices, constitutional officials, as well as officials of the Armed Forces with the rank of general or flag officer are required to disclose their SALN online.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the disclosure of SALNs online will not be a violation of human rights.

“Yung mga posisyon na hawak nila, yan talaga yung matataas na posisyon at malaki at malawak yung responsibility [They have high positions in government and have a big and broad responsibility to the people],” Valte said. “Much is expected of them and it is only fitting that they also reveal kung ano yung laman ng SALN [what their SALN contains].”

She said the FOI Bill will allow those who ask for a copy of the SALN to view it online instead of going personally to the office of the custodian.

Some lawmakers, including the chairman of the House Committee on Public Information Rep. Ben Evardone and Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello support the Palace version.

But Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares said he will not support President Aquino’s version as it further “dilutes and weakens the peoples’ right to information.”

Meanwhile, Malacañang supported the proposal of Senator Ralph Recto for government workers and officials to undergo a “crash course” on the proper filing of SALN.

Last Friday, Recto asked the CSC to hold a nationwide education campaign to all government offices for the proper filing of the SALN.

“Maganda pong mungkahi ’yan galing kay Senator Recto. (That's a good proposal from Sen. Recto),” Valte said. (With reports from Charissa M. Luci, Madel R. Sabater, and JC Bello Ruiz)