Social media users resurfaced an old post of former House speaker advocating on anti-corruption among 2016 presidential and vice presidential bets.
The post of Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano (Taguig) uploaded on March 15, 2016, which was months before the presidential elections that year, gained traction this week.
Cayetano, then a senator, was the running mate of President Rodrigo Duterte during the national elections.
He conceded to incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo after the polls concluded in May 2016. Mar Roxas was her running mate.
In the five-year-old post, Cayetano was calling on other candidates to “open their bank accounts” through a pledge, where his and Duterte’s signatures were shown.
“We, the candidates for president and vice president in the 2016 national election, hereby pledge to open all our bank accounts in local and foreign currencies both here and abroad in the interest of transparency and accountability,” read the text in the pledge.
“We need to end bank secrecy for all government officials and candidates. This pledge and my signature below waives all my rights and privileges to bank secrecy under the Bank Secrecy Law,” it added.
Aside from Duterte and Cayetano, the names of former candidates for the two highest positions of the land were also provided.
In the former senator’s caption, he said: “Pumirma na kami ni Mayor Duterte ng waiver. Lahat ng gusto maging Pangulo o VP ay dapat maging transparent sa taong bayan. #DuterteCayetano.”
Some Filipinos managed to find this post on Cayetano’s account and placed new comments under it. Others re-posted it in their own accounts.
New comments and shares normally direct Facebook to make old posts appear again on the timeline.
Social media users who brought it up again poked fun at the campaign and asked for an update.
“Magfofollow up lang po sana,” one user said.
“Update po?” another wrote.
Others expressed frustration that such anti-corruption initiative was all for show back then. They pointed out Duterte’s refusal to release his net worth to the public.
“Dapat po ata i-delete niyo na post na to sir. Presidente mismo hindi sumunod eh,” one user commented.
“Nakasign naman pala ih edi ilabas ang SALN,” another user said.
The submission of Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net worth (SALN) is required by law under the 1987 Constitution and the Republic Act 6713, the “Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.”
The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism previously reported that it was in 2017 since Duterte last released his SALN upon the organization’s requests for it.
Last year, Ombudsman Samuel Martires signed a memorandum that placed more restrictions in public access to elected officials’ SALNs.
