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LIFESTYLE CHECK FOR ORDINARY CITIZENS
What
is Lifestyle Check?
LIFESTYLE
is defined by Answers.Com as an “individual pattern of living
as reflected by interests, opinions, spending habits, and
activities (http://www.answers.com/lifestyle).
Lifestyle
is a very important concept primarily because there are standards
that public servants must follow. This is provided in Article XI,
Section 1 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution:
Public
office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must at
all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost
responsibility, integrity, loyalty and efficiency, act with
patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.
Not known
to many, public officials must live modest lives or lifestyles.
According to Fr. Joaquin Bernas, member of the Constitutional
Convention of 1986, MODEST LIVES means “to live within
ones means, and if one’s means are generous, not to flaunt them
in conspicuous display” (Bernas, the 1987 Constitution of
the Republic of the Philippines: A Commentary, 1996 ed.). This
standard is further reiterated in Republic Act (RA) 6713,
otherwise known as the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards
for Public Officials and Employees. Section 4 (h) of RA 6713
provides:
Section
4. Norms of Conduct of Public Officials and Employees - (A) Every
public official and employee shall observe the following as
standards of personal conduct in the discharge and execution of
official duties:
(h)
Simple Living- Public
officials and employees and their families shall lead their modest
lives appropriate to their positions and income. They shall not
indulge in extravagant or ostentatious display of wealth in any
form.
Lifestyle
check specifically deals with the question “Is
the public official’s displayed lifestyle disproportionate with
his/her declared income?” If not then there is a possibility that the public official’s capacity to sustain his
extravagant lifestyle from corruption.
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Lifestyle
Check is a fact finding investigation conducted by
government agencies to determine whether or not
there is sufficient evidence to file a case of graft
and corruption against an alleged corrupt official
for excessive lifestyle.
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- Scan
social environment
•
List down personally known public officials and
corresponding salary grade
•
List down other personally known sources of income of said
officials aside from salary from the government
•
List down known properties of the public official and
his/her family and other observations about the family’s
lifestyle.
CHECKLIST
OF LIFESTYLE CHECK INDICATORS
Note: One
is said to be the beneficial owner of a property when even if the
documents pertaining to ownership do not reflect his/her name,
is the actual user of the said property for a continued
period of time.
- Verify
Information
•
Corroboration information (by another credible source)
•
Double check information (by observation, triangulation,
etc.)
Verification
Tips
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Information
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How to Verify
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House/ apartments/ condominium
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Observe if the family is the beneficial
owner of the property
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Vehicles
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Same as above
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Vacations
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Personally seeing plane tickets; photos
of said vacation
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Schools of children
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Personally seeing IDs or seeing
children in uniform/going to school
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- Substantiate
Information
q
Provide details to initially gathered information:
n
Complete name of public official (First Name, Middle
Initial, Surname)
n
Complete designation
- position, office, etc.
n
Complete description of property/activity (real
property address, vehicle plate no. and model)
- Rough
Assessment of Known Income (Income includes salaries and benefits of the subject and his/her
spouse as well as their children)
q
Monthly income X 13 months X # of years in service
q
EX: P8,000/mo.; 10 years of service
P8,0000 x 13
months x 10 years = P1,040,000
5. Simple
Report Writing
WHERE
TO SUBMIT
LIFESTYLE
CHECK REPORTS
Office of the Ombudsman
www.ombudsman.gov.ph
(All government officials are under the
jurisdiction of the OMB)
MERCEDITAS GUTIERREZ
Tanodbayan
Office of the Ombudsman
Agham Road, Quezon City
Tel: (02) 926-8710; 926-9032
Fax: (02) 926-8709; 926-8776
VICTOR FERNANDEZ
Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon
Office of the Ombudsman
Agham Road, Quezon City
Tel: (02) 926-8734
Fax: (02) 926-8738
VIRGINIA SANTIAGO
Deputy Ombudsman for Visayas
Palace of Justice, Capitol, Cebu
City
Tel: (032) 255-0976
Fax: (032) 253-0981
HUMPHREY MONTEROSO
Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao
4/F Herrera Building, Alvarez St.
Davao City
Tel: (082) 221-3431
ORLANDO CASIMIRO
Deputy Ombudsman for the Military
Office of the Ombudsman
Agham Road, Quezon City
Tel: (02) 926-8747
Fax: (02) 926-8776
Presidential Anti-Graft
Commission
www.pagc.gov.ph
(If presidential appointees with salary grade 26 and above i.e. Regional
Director but they can also receive reports against officials who
do not fall under this category)
Konstancia De Guzman
Chairperson
Presidential Anti-Graft Commission
State Accounting and Auditing
Center (SAAC) Building, Commonweatlh Avenue, University of the
Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City
Tel: (02) 924-1311
Fax: (02) 925-8928
Revenue Integrity Protection
Service
www.rips.gov.ph
(If your subject is from the BIR, DOF,
BOC, Local Treasury and other government agencies attached to the
DOF)
Gaudencio Mendoza
Undersecretary, Department of
Finance
DOF Bldg., BSP Complex
Roxas Blvd., Metro Manila
Tel: (02) 523-3465
Fax: (02) - 521-9495
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