AN ACT
ESTABLISHING A CODE OF CONDUCT AND ETHICAL STANDARDS FOR PUBLIC OFFICIALS AND
EMPLOYEES, TO UPHOLD THE TIME-HONORED PRINCIPLE OF PUBLIC OFFICE BEING A PUBLIC
TRUST GRANTING INCENTIVES AND REWARDS FOR EXEMPLARY SERVICE, ENUMERATING
PROHIBITED ACTS AND TRANSACTIONS AND PROVIDING PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS THEREOF
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:
Section 1. Title. — This Act shall
be known as the "Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public
Officials and Employees."
Section 2. Declaration of Policies. — It is the
policy of the State to promote a high standard of ethics in public service.
Public officials and employees shall at all times be accountable to the people
and shall discharge their duties with utmost responsibility, integrity,
competence, and loyalty, act with patriotism and justice, lead modest lives,
and uphold public interest over personal interest.
Section 3. Definition of Terms. — As used in this
Act, the term:
(a)
"Government" includes the national government, the local governments,
and all other instrumentalities, agencies or branches of the Republic of the
Philippines including government-owned or controlled corporations, and their
subsidiaries.
(b)
"Public Officials" includes elective and appointive officials and
employees, permanent or temporary, whether in the career or non-career service,
including military and police personnel, whether or not they receive
compensation, regardless of amount.
(c)
"Gift" refers to a thing or a right disposed of gratuitously, or any
act or liberality, in favor of another who accepts it, and shall include a
simulated sale or an ostensibly onerous disposition thereof. It shall not
include an unsolicited gift of nominal or insignificant value not given in
anticipation of, or in exchange for, a favor from a public official or
employee.
(d)
"Receiving any gift" includes the act of accepting directly or
indirectly, a gift from a person other than a member of his family or relative
as defined in this Act, even on the occasion of a family celebration or
national festivity like Christmas, if the value of the gift is neither nominal
nor insignificant, or the gift is given in anticipation of, or in exchange for,
a favor.
(e)
"Loan" covers both simple loan and commodatum as well as guarantees, financing
arrangements or accommodations intended to ensure its approval.
(f)
"Substantial stockholder" means any person who owns, directly or
indirectly, shares of stock sufficient to elect a director of a corporation.
This term shall also apply to the parties to a voting trust.
(g)
"Family of public officials or employees" means their spouses and
unmarried children under eighteen (18) years of age.
(h)
"Person" includes natural and juridical persons unless the context
indicates otherwise.
(i)
"Conflict of interest" arises when a public official or employee is a
member of a board, an officer, or a substantial stockholder of a private corporation
or owner or has a substantial interest in a business, and the interest of such
corporation or business, or his rights or duties therein, may be opposed to or
affected by the faithful performance of official duty.
(j)
"Divestment" is the transfer of title or disposal of interest in
property by voluntarily, completely and actually depriving or dispossessing
oneself of his right or title to it in favor of a person or persons other than
his spouse and relatives as defined in this Act.
(k)
"Relatives" refers to any and all persons related to a public
official or employee within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or
affinity, including bilas, inso and balae.
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:
(a) Commitment to public interest. — Public
officials and employees shall always uphold the public interest over and above personal
interest. All government resources and powers of their respective offices must
be employed and used efficiently, effectively, honestly and economically,
particularly to avoid wastage in public funds and revenues.
(b) Professionalism. — Public officials
and employees shall perform and discharge their duties with the highest degree
of excellence, professionalism, intelligence and skill. They shall enter public
service with utmost devotion and dedication to duty. They shall endeavor to
discourage wrong perceptions of their roles as dispensers or peddlers of undue
patronage.
(c) Justness and sincerity. — Public
officials and employees shall remain true to the
people at all times. They must act with
justness and sincerity and shall not discriminate against anyone, especially
the poor and the underprivileged. They shall at all times respect the rights of
others, and shall refrain from doing acts contrary to law, good morals, good
customs, public policy, public order, public safety and public interest. They shall
not dispense or extend undue favors on account of their office to their
relatives whether by consanguinity or affinity except with respect to
appointments of such relatives to positions considered strictly confidential or
as members of their personal staff whose terms are coterminous with theirs.
(d) Political neutrality. — Public
officials and employees shall provide service to everyone without unfair
discrimination and regardless of party affiliation or preference.
(e) Responsiveness to the public. — Public
officials and employees shall extend prompt, courteous, and adequate service to
the public. Unless otherwise provided by law or when required by the public
interest, public officials and employees shall provide information of their
policies and procedures in clear and understandable language, ensure openness
of information, public consultations and hearings whenever appropriate,
encourage suggestions, simplify and systematize policy, rules and procedures,
avoid red tape and develop an understanding and appreciation of the socio22 economic
conditions prevailing in the country, especially in the depressed rural and urban
areas.
(f) Nationalism and patriotism. — Public
officials and employees shall at all times
be loyal to the Republic and to the
Filipino people, promote the use of locally produced goods, resources and
technology and encourage appreciation and pride of country and people. They
shall endeavor to maintain and defend Philippine sovereignty against foreign intrusion.
(g) Commitment to democracy. — Public
officials and employees shall commit themselves to the democratic way of life
and values, maintain the principle of public accountability, and manifest by
deeds the supremacy of civilian authority over the military. They shall at all
times uphold the Constitution and put loyalty to country above loyalty to
persons or party.
(h) Simple living. — Public
officials and employees and their families shall lead modest lives appropriate
to their positions and income. They shall not indulge in extravagant or
ostentatious display of wealth in any form.
(B)
The Civil Service Commission shall adopt positive measures to promote (1) observance
of these standards including the dissemination of information programs and workshops
authorizing merit increases beyond regular progression steps, to a limited number
of employees recognized by their office colleagues to be outstanding in their observance
of ethical standards; and (2) continuing research and experimentation on measures
which provide positive motivation to public officials and employees in raising the
general level of observance of these standards.
Section 5. Duties of Public
Officials and Employees. — In the performance of
their duties, all public officials and employees
are under obligation to:
(a)
Act promptly on letters and requests. — All public officials and
employees shall,
within fifteen (15) working days from
receipt thereof, respond to letters, telegrams or other means of communications
sent by the public. The reply must contain the action taken on the request.
(b) Submit annual performance reports. — All heads or
other responsible officers of offices and agencies of the government and of
government-owned or controlled corporations shall, within forty-five (45)
working days from the end of the year, render a performance report of the
agency or office or corporation concerned. Such report shall be open and
available to the public within regular office hours.
(c)
Process documents and papers expeditiously. — All official papers and
documents must be processed and completed within a reasonable time from the
preparation thereof and must contain, as far as practicable, not more than
three (3) signatories therein. In the absence of duly authorized signatories,
the official next-in-rank or officer–in-charge shall sign for and in their
behalf.
(d) Act immediately on the public's personal
transactions.
— All public officials and employees must attend to anyone who wants to avail
himself of the services of their offices and must, at all times, act promptly
and expeditiously.
(e) Make documents accessible to the public. — All public
documents must be made
accessible to, and readily available for
inspection by, the public within reasonable working hours.
Section 6. System of Incentives and
Rewards.
— A system of annual incentives and rewards is hereby established in order to
motivate and inspire public servants to uphold the highest standards of ethics.
For this purpose, a Committee on Awards to Outstanding Public Officials and
Employees is hereby created composed of the following: the Ombudsman and
Chairman of the Civil Service Commission as Co-Chairmen, and the Chairman of
the Commission on Audit, and two government employees to be appointed by the
President, as members.
It shall be the task of this Committee to
conduct a periodic, continuing review of the performance of public officials
and employees, in all the branches and agencies of Government and establish a
system of annual incentives and rewards to the end that due recognition is
given to public officials and employees of outstanding merit on the basis of
the standards set forth in this Act.
The conferment of
awards shall take into account, among other things, the following: the years of
service and the quality and consistency of performance, the obscurity of the
position, the level of salary, the unique and exemplary quality of a certain
achievement, and the risks or temptations inherent in the work. Incentives and rewards
to government officials and employees of the year to be announced in public ceremonies
honoring them may take the form of bonuses, citations, directorships in government-owned
or controlled corporations, local and foreign scholarship grants, paid vacations
and the like. They shall likewise be automatically promoted to the next higher position
with the commensurate salary suitable to their qualifications. In case there is
no next higher position or it is not vacant, said position shall be included in
the budget of the office in the next General Appropriations Act. The Committee
on Awards shall adopt its own rules to govern the conduct of its activities.
Section 7. Prohibited Acts and
Transactions. —
In addition to acts and omissions of public officials and employees now prescribed
in the Constitution and existing laws, the following shall constitute
prohibited acts and transactions of any public official and employee and are
hereby declared to be unlawful:
(a)
Financial and material interest. — Public officials and employees shall not,
directly or indirectly, have any financial
or material interest in any transaction requiring
the approval of their office.
(b)
Outside employment and other activities related thereto. — Public officials and
employees during their incumbency shall
not:
(1)
Own, control, manage or accept employment as officer, employee, consultant, counsel,
broker, agent, trustee or nominee in any private enterprise regulated, supervised
or licensed by their office unless expressly allowed by law;
(2)
Engage in the private practice of their profession unless authorized by the Constitution
or law, provided, that such practice will not conflict or tend to conflict with
their official functions; or
(3)
Recommend any person to any position in a private enterprise which has a regular
or pending official transaction with their office.
These prohibitions shall continue to apply for
a period of one (1) year after resignation, retirement, or separation from
public office, except in the case of subparagraph (b) (2) above, but the
professional concerned cannot practice his profession in connection with any
matter before the office he used to be with, in which case the one-year
prohibition shall likewise apply.
(c)
Disclosure and/or misuse of confidential information. — Public officials
and employees shall not use or divulge, confidential or classified information
officially known to them by reason of their office and not made available to
the public, either:
(1)
To further their private interests, or give undue advantage to anyone; or
(2)
To prejudice the public interest.
(d) Solicitation or acceptance of
gifts.
— Public officials and employees shall not solicit or accept, directly or indirectly,
any gift, gratuity, favor, entertainment, loan or anything of monetary value
from any person in the course of their official duties or in connection with
any operation being regulated by, or any transaction which may be affected by
the functions of their office.
As
to gifts or grants from foreign governments, the Congress consents to:
(i)
The acceptance and retention by a public official or employee of a gift of nominal
value tendered and received as a souvenir or mark of courtesy;
(ii) The acceptance by a public official or
employee of a gift in the nature of a scholarship or fellowship grant or
medical treatment; or
(iii) The acceptance by a public official or
employee of travel grants or expenses for travel taking place entirely outside
the Philippine (such as allowances, transportation, food, and lodging) of more
than nominal value if such acceptance is appropriate or consistent with the
interests of the Philippines, and permitted by the head of office, branch or
agency to which he belongs.
The
Ombudsman shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to carry out the
purpose of this subsection, including pertinent reporting and disclosure requirements.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to
restrict or prohibit any educational, scientific or cultural exchange programs
subject to national security requirements.
Section 8. Statements and
Disclosure.
— Public officials and employees have an obligation to accomplish and submit
declarations under oath of, and the public has the right to know, their assets,
liabilities, net worth and financial and business interests including those of
their spouses and of unmarried children under eighteen (18) years of age living
in their households.
(A) Statements of Assets and
Liabilities and Financial Disclosure. — All public
officials and employees, except those who
serve in an honorary capacity, laborers and casual or temporary workers, shall
file under oath their Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth and a
Disclosure of Business Interests and Financial Connections and those of their
spouses and unmarried children under eighteen (18) years of age living in their
households.
The
two documents shall contain information on the following:
(a)
real property, its improvements, acquisition costs, assessed value and current fair
market value;
(b)
personal property and acquisition cost;
(c)
all other assets such as investments, cash on hand or in banks, stocks, bonds, and
the like;
(d)
liabilities, and;
(e)
all business interests and financial connections.
The
documents must be filed:
(a)
within thirty (30) days after assumption of office;
(b)
on or before April 30, of every year thereafter; and
(c)
within thirty (30) days after separation from the service.
All
public officials and employees required under this section to file the aforestated
documents shall also execute, within thirty (30) days from the date of their assumption
of office, the necessary authority in favor of the Ombudsman to obtain from all
appropriate government agencies, including the Bureau of Internal Revenue, such
documents as may show their assets, liabilities, net worth, and also their
business interests and financial connections in previous years, including, if
possible, the year when they first assumed any office in the Government.
Husband and wife who are both public officials
or employees may file the required statements jointly or separately.
The
Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth and the Disclosure of Business Interests
and Financial Connections shall be filed by:
(1)
Constitutional and national elective officials, with the national office of the
Ombudsman;
(2)
Senators and Congressmen, with the Secretaries of the Senate and the House of
Representatives, respectively; Justices, with the Clerk of Court of the Supreme
Court; Judges, with the Court Administrator; and all national executive
officials with the Office of the President;
(3)
Regional and local officials and employees, with the Deputy Ombudsman in their
respective regions;
(4)
Officers of the armed forces from the rank of colonel or naval captain, with the
Office of the President, and those below said ranks, with the Deputy Ombudsman
in their respective regions; and
(5) All other public officials and
employees, defined in Republic Act No. 3019, as
amended, with the Civil Service
Commission.
(B)
Identification and disclosure of relatives. — It shall be the duty of
every publicofficial or employee to identify and disclose, to the best of his
knowledge and
information, his relatives in the
Government in the form, manner and frequency
prescribed by the Civil Service
Commission.
(C)
Accessibility of documents. — (1) Any and all statements filed under
this Act,
shall be made available for inspection at
reasonable hours.
(2)
Such statements shall be made available for copying or reproduction after ten
(10) working days from the time they are filed
as required by law.
(3)
Any person requesting a copy of a statement shall be required to pay a reasonable
fee to cover the cost of reproduction and mailing of such statement, as well as
the cost of certification.
(4)
Any statement filed under this Act shall be available to the public for a
period of ten (10) years after receipt of the statement. After such period, the
statement may be destroyed unless needed in an ongoing investigation.
(D)
Prohibited acts. — It shall be unlawful for any person to obtain or use
any statement filed under this Act for:
(a)
any purpose contrary to morals or public policy; or
(b)
any commercial purpose other than by news and communications media for dissemination
to the general public.
Section 9. Divestment. — A public
official or employee shall avoid conflicts of
interest at all times. When a conflict of
interest arises, he shall resign from his position in any private business
enterprise within thirty (30) days from his assumption of office and/or divest
himself of his shareholdings or interest within sixty (60) days from such assumption.
The
same rule shall apply where the public official or employee is a partner in a
partnership.
The
requirement of divestment shall not apply to those who serve the Government in
an honorary capacity nor to laborers and casual or temporary workers.
Section 10. Review and Compliance
Procedure. —
(a) The designated
Committees of both Houses of the Congress
shall establish procedures for the review of statements to determine whether
said statements which have been submitted on time, are complete, and are in
proper form. In the event a determination is made that a statement is not so
filed, the appropriate Committee shall so inform the reporting
individual and direct him to take the
necessary corrective action.
(b) In order to carry out their
responsibilities under this Act, the designated Committees of both Houses of
Congress shall have the power within their respective
jurisdictions, to render any opinion
interpreting this Act, in writing, to persons covered by this Act, subject in
each instance to the approval by affirmative vote of the majority of the
particular House concerned.
The individual to
whom an opinion is rendered, and any other individual involved in a similar
factual situation, and who, after issuance of the opinion acts in
good faith in accordance with it shall not
be subject to any sanction provided in this Act.
(c) The heads of other offices shall
perform the duties stated in subsections (a) and (b) hereof insofar as their
respective offices are concerned, subject to the approval of the Secretary of
Justice, in the case of the Executive Department and the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court, in the case of the Judicial Department.
Section 11. Penalties. — (a) Any public
official or employee, regardless of whether or not he holds office or
employment in a casual, temporary, holdover, permanent or regular capacity,
committing any violation of this Act shall be punished with a fine not
exceeding the equivalent of six (6) months' salary or suspension not exceeding
one (1) year, or removal depending on the gravity of the offense after due
notice and hearing by the appropriate body
or agency. If the violation is punishable by a heavier penalty under another
law, he shall be prosecuted under the latter statute. Violations of Sections 7,
8 or 9 of this Act shall be punishable with imprisonment not exceeding five (5)
years, or a fine not exceeding five thousand pesos (P5,000), or both, and, in
the discretion of the court of competent jurisdiction, disqualification to hold
public office.
(b) Any violation hereof proven in a
proper administrative proceeding shall be sufficient cause for removal or
dismissal of a public official or employee, even if no criminal prosecution is
instituted against him.
(c) Private individuals who participate
in conspiracy as co-principals, accomplices or accessories, with public officials
or employees, in violation of this Act, shall be subject to the same penal
liabilities as the public officials or employees and shall be tried jointly
with them.
(d) The official or employee concerned may
bring an action against any person who obtains or uses a report for any purpose
prohibited by Section 8 (D) of this Act. The Court in which such action is
brought may assess against such person a penalty in any amount not to exceed
twenty-five thousand pesos (P25,000.00). If another sanction hereunder or under
any other law is heavier, the latter shall apply.
Section 12. Promulgation of Rules
and Regulations, Administration and Enforcement of this Act. — The Civil
Service Commission shall have the primary responsibility for the administration
and enforcement of this Act. It shall transmit all
cases for prosecution arising from
violations of this Act to the proper authorities for
appropriate action: Provided, however,
That it may institute such administrative actions and disciplinary measures as
may be warranted in accordance with law. Nothing in this provision shall be
construed as a deprivation of the right of each House of Congress to discipline
its Members for disorderly behavior.
The Civil Service Commission is hereby
authorized to promulgate rules and regulations necessary to carry out the
provisions of this Act, including guidelines for individuals who render free
voluntary service to the Government. The Ombudsman
shall likewise take steps to protect
citizens who denounce acts or omissions of public
officials and employees which are in
violation of this Act.
Section 13. Provisions for More
Stringent Standards. — Nothing in this Act shall be construed to derogate
from any law, or any regulation prescribed by any body or agency, which
provides for more stringent standards for its official and employees.
Section 14. Appropriations. — The sum
necessary for the effective implementation of this Act shall be taken from the
appropriations of the Civil Service Commission. Thereafter, such sum as may be
needed for its continued implementation shall be included in the Annual General
Appropriations Act.
Section 15. Separability Clause. — If any
provision of this Act or the application of such provision to any person or
circumstance is declared invalid, the remainder of the Act or the application
of such provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected by
such declaration.
Section 16. Repealing Clause. — All laws,
decrees and orders or parts thereof inconsistent herewith, are deemed repealed
or modified accordingly, unless the same
provide for a heavier penalty.
Section 17. Effectivity. — This Act shall
take effect after thirty (30) days following the completion of its publication
in the Official Gazette or in two (2) national newspapers of general
circulation.
Approved, February 20, 1989