Sherwin Gatchalian gets marriage ribbing from fellow senators over SALN query - GMA Network

Senators Francis Escudero and Francis Pangilinan teased Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian about possibly getting married after a witness in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial explained why public officials must include their spouses’ assets in their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).

Gatchalian, a bachelor, drew the ribbing after he asked a prosecution witness, former Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang, why a public official’s SALN should include the assets of the official’s spouse when the couple jointly files the document.

Cabotaje-Tang explained that under the Supreme Court’s ruling in Babano v. Executive Secretary, a public official must declare the assets of his or her spouse in the SALN unless the couple entered into an agreement for a complete separation of property before their marriage.

“If the married couple came up with a [pre-nuptial] agreement of a complete separation of property, then the government official does not need to declare the assets of his or her spouse in his SALN. Without such agreement, all assets of the spouse must be declared in the SALN of the public official,” Cabotaje-Tang said during her testimony on the 24th day of Duterte’s impeachment trial.

Gatchalian also asked Cabotaje-Tang whether these assets included cash.

Cabotaje-Tang said the law penalises a public official’s intentional non-declaration of a spouse’s assets, including removal from office under Section 8 of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act in cases involving the unlawful acquisition of unexplained wealth.

She also cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in Rabusa v. Republic, saying the wife of retired Army lieutenant colonel George Rabusa should be able to establish that she legitimately acquired properties attributed to her.

“In the case of Rabusa v. Republic [Supreme Court decision], his wife should be able to show she legitimately acquired those properties," Cabotaje-Tang said.

Otherwise, if she fails to show that she has the financial capacity to acquire those assets and these assets are traceable to the public officials, that becomes the property of the public official, including businesses, provided that the ownership of those [business] assets are traceable to the public official,” she added.

This prompted Escudero to interject.

“Salamat po sa payo niyo, Justice [Cabotaje-Tang], kung sakaling dumating man po ‘yung panahong ‘yun kay SP (Senate President), alam na po niya kung paano niya idedeklara sa kanyang SALN ‘yung asset ng kanyang mapapangasawa,” Escudero said on Monday.

(Thank you for your piece of advice, Justice Cabotaje-Tang. When the time comes for SP to get married, he would already know how to declare his spouse’s assets in his SALN.)

(Maybe the Senate President knows something that we don’t about his marriage plans, based on his questions.)

Both Escudero and Pangilinan are married to movie actresses who had acquired substantial assets before their respective marriages.

Escudero married actress Heart Evangelista in 2015, while Pangilinan married actress and singer Sharon Cuneta in 1996.

Ahead of Gatchalian’s questioning, Cabotaje-Tang testified during direct examination that government investigators may scrutinise the assets of public officials’ spouses and children “to prevent a circumstance that a public official is able to evade investigation.”— MCG, GMA News