MANILA – Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III has reconstituted the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) Review and Compliance Committee of the House of Representatives in line with Republic Act 6713 and his earlier commitment to revisit guidelines on the public release of lawmakers’ SALNs.

Dy also made public his own SALN on Wednesday, fulfilling his earlier promise of transparency.

Under a memorandum order dated October 20, Deputy Speaker and South Cotabato 2nd District Rep. Ferdinand Hernandez was appointed as chairperson of the committee. Iloilo 3rd District Rep. Lorenz Defensor and Marikina 2nd District Rep. Romero Federico Quimbo were named vice chairpersons.

The committee members include TGP Party-list Rep. Jose “Bong” Teves Jr., Tarlac 2nd District Rep. Maria Cristina Angeles, Quezon 1st District Rep. Wilfrido Mark Enverga, Ilocos Norte 2nd District Rep. Angelo Barba, and Dinagat Islands Rep. Arlene Bag-ao.

The committee’s Secretariat will be composed of senior officials from the Legal Affairs, Legislative Operations, and Administrative Departments, as well as representatives from the Office of the Secretary General, the Committee on Rules, the Records Management Service, and the Office of the Speaker.

The move comes after Dy announced last week that the House leadership would review its internal rules on the release of members’ SALNs to promote transparency and accountability.

In a radio interview on October 15, Dy said lawmakers are “generally open” to making their SALNs publicly available, recalling that Congress used to allow public inspection of the documents.

Dy said the House may consider reinstating that practice as part of its efforts to strengthen public trust in government. (PNA)