Legal expert: Public officials can't receive gifts except from family

A legal expert on Thursday said government officials and employees are prohibited from receiving gifts except if these came from family members.

"Receiving a gift is not allowed except if it's from a family member," said former Ateneo School of Government dean Antonio La Viña.

According to La Viña, there are four laws that prohibit the practice of gift-giving to public officials and employees.

These are Articles 210 to 212 of the Revised Penal Code, Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees and Presidential Decree 46.

The prohibition, however, does not include a gift from a member of his family or relative on the occasion of a family celebration, and without any expectation of pecuniary gain or benefit, and donations coming from government to government entities, among others.

La Viña's reaction came after Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte's admission that the "expensive" watch he was wearing recently was just a gift.

Duterte, however, did not say who gave him the watch, which a netizen said is an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph model which reportedly sells for P1.9 million.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV has implicated the presidential son and his brother-in-law Atty. Mans Carpio in smuggling, an allegation the vice mayor and Carpio dismissed as hearsay. —JST, GMA News