What the SALNs can reveal

What interesting things, indeed, can be revealed in the once innocuous document called the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, that has been given the nickname of SALN. In the last crop of SALNs, especially those from the Senate, it was discovered or, shall we say, confirmed, that a senator has separated from his wife. That is because he had to note that status in his all-encompassing SALN.

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Of course it was already an open secret that Senator Chiz Escudero had parted from his showbiz wife about two years ago, but nobody had confirmed it. Now, as a national daily delicately put it, the young senator has admitted that he and his wife are “separated-in-fact”. Not only that, he also was quoted as saying that an annulment case has been filed. But it is good for Escudero that he confronted this moment of truth via his SALN. The timing is right, because voters have more than a year to get used to the fact.

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Now, who are the other senators and congressmen who file equally revealing information in their SALNs this year? Last month, we had a tip that another senator was all set to announce his separation, too. The information was also picked up by a national daily, but when we were about to write the news, after searching for hours for confirmation, we got hold of the father of one of the parties involved, and he said it was supposed to be a private matter. He added, though, that they will soon confirm it. I know people in Bacolod will be very, very interested.

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Another similar case we learned about involved a congressman whose high-profile spouse also reportedly dropped him. Again, we thought it too private to be disclosed until confirmation is secured. Well, the mother of one of the parties did confirm it, but reportedly said they didn’t mind it so much except that the other spouse would not yield the child to them. More interesting, probably, will be the confirmation of cases of dalliances of members of both Houses also called “extra-curricular activities”. But those won’t get into the SALNs, that’s for sure.

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That’s enough chismis for the day, and we now leave it to enterprising reader to identify the parties concerned. Let us move on to the raging topic of the year, which is the impeachment trial of the country’s Chief Justice. In a few days, the Senate show will start again, and we will be missing some of our programs on TV and radio. This time, more fuel has been thrown into the impeachment fire with the entry of the Ombudsman questioning the alleged dollar deposits of Chief Justice Renato Corona in various banks.

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Corona, meanwhile has slammed the dollar account story as “black propaganda”. As we have noted here before, he can easily prove that it is all black propa by trotting out his bank records and let everybody see that he doesn’t have those millions of U.S. dollars stashed away. As for the present Ombudsman who is a woman, actually, she insists that she has the authority to probe even a chief justice, so expect another tug-of-war involving such authority.

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Tomorrow, the world will be watching again another presentation of the American Idol show where one of the last five finalists will bite the dust and leave four to battle it out for the title. The last one to be eliminated has been moaning to the media about the shock she got from being booted out. Filipinos, both in the United States and in this country have a stake in the contest because one of the last five standing has 50 percent Filipino blood. Will the diminutive girl with the powerful voice make it?

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But Jessica Sanchez has a lot going for her because Filipinos have awakened to her kinship with them and are working hard to help her win, by mustering the needed online votes for her. In Bataan, home province of her mother, even the officials have joined the campaign, and are calling on Pinoys abroad to do their thing by their half-kababayan. We can’t blame them for claiming Jessica as their own, her features, her size, and even her mannerisms are true Filipino. What part of her can her Mexican father claim? Surely not her singing talent? Anyway, let us wish her luck tomorrow. Tune in to Channel 37 at 7 p.m.*

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