Marcos to submit to lifestyle check

OVP, DPWH chief ready to comply

- By ARGYLL CYRUS GEDUCOS and TRIXIE ROSEL

President Marcos is willing to undergo a lifestyle check along with all members of the Executive branch, Malacañang said amid the administration's probe into anomalous flood control projects.

Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said this after the President ordered a lifestyle check on all government officials involved in flood control projects, beginning with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), to pursue accountability across the bureaucracy.

In her press briefing, the Palace Press Officer said the President himself is not exempt from the order.

"All members of the Executive are ready for lifestyle check, even the President," she said on Friday, Aug. 29.

The Palace had earlier said lifestyle checks will cover DPWH officials allegedly linked to substandard and overpriced flood control projects, but the scope now includes all executive officials.

OVP ready to comply The Office of the Vice President (OVP) said it is also prepared to undergo a lifestyle check, whether or not it is ordered by the President.

"As we have always been. The Office of the Vice President is very much mindful of the provision in the Constitution that we are all public servants, public office is a public trust, and we're all supposed to live modest lives," OVP spokesperson Ruth Castelo told reporters on Friday.

Asked if Vice President Sara Duterte is willing to make public her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN), Castelo said there are existing procedures for public access.

"There is a procedure for that," she said. "We, civil servants, are just asked to submit it to the appropriate office. Requests for access must go through that channel." Bonoan ready to bare SALN Likewise, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Manuel Bonoan pledged on Friday to release his SALN to reinforce transparency and accountability in the agency's intensified anti-corruption efforts.