MANKAYAN, Benguet – The municipal vice mayor of this town is now facing charges of violation of Section 8 of Republic Act (RA) 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees in relation to Section 7 of Republic Act (RA) 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Law before the Office of the Ombudsman for his alleged failure to submit his Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) to the said offices for five years or from 2008 to 2012.
In his 2-page sworn affidavit stamped received by the Office of the Ombudsman on November 26, 2018, Salvador Liked, Secretary-General of the Cordillera chapter of the Citizens Crime Watch (CCW-CAR), accused Vice Mayor Dario S. Banario of allegedly failing to submit his required SALNs for the years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 aside from his alleged failure to declare his relatives in the government service within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity which was supposed to have included in-laws among others.
Liked used as an evidence a certification issued by the records officer of the Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon dated August 31, 2018 certifying that Banario did not have his SALNs on file for the years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012
However, copies of Banario’s SALNs for the years 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 were made available by the Office of the Ombudsman for whatever purposes that they may serve in the filing of the case against the said local official.
Banario was elected as the town’s municipal councilor for 3 consecutive terms or from 2001 to 2010 but did not aspire for a higher position in the 2010 synchronized national elections before being elected as the municipal vice mayor in the 2013 mid-term elections and got re-elected during the May 2016 national polls.
Section 8 of RA 6713 provides that every public officer, and within the month of January every other year thereafter, as well as upon the expiration of his or her term of office, or upon his resignation or separation from office, shall prepare and file with the office of the corresponding department head, or in the case of head department or chief of an independent office with the Office of the President, or in the case of member of the Congress and the officials and employees thereof, with the Office of the Secretary of the corresponding House, a true detailed and sworn statement of assets and liabilities including a statement of the amounts and sources of income, , taxes paid for the next preceding calendar year: provided, that public officers assuming office less than two months before the end of the calendar year, may file their statements in the following month of January.
In a text message to one of the writers of Herald Express, Vice Mayor Banario asserted that he had been religiously filing his required SALNs when he was in government service in compliance to existing laws, rules and regulations.
Contrary to the allegations in the complaint that he did not declare his relatives in the government service, Banaro claimed that he has no relative in the government that is why he did not declare such in his submitted SALNs.
However, he questioned the complaint for having included the years 2011 and 2012 as part of the years that he did not submit his SALNs when he was not in government service at that time that is why the same will surely not hold water since he was not in the service at that time.
By HENT
