The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) can accept donations, like mobile clinics, from a tobacco company, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said.

What is prohibited, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla said in a legal opinion issued last June 6, "is the receipt or solicitation of public officials and employees of gifts in the course of their official functions."

Remulla said that "as a rule, the government is generally allowed to receive donations from foreign governments or private persons, subject to certain provisions as to its use and execution."

The legal opinion was sought by DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian on the legality of accepting from a tobacco company three mobile clinics that can be used by the DSWD for social welfare and disaster response operations.

Gatchalian believes that the DSWD can accept the donations despite the issuance of Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) No. 2010-01 of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the Department of Health (DOH).

Remulla noted that JMC No. 2010-10, also known as the Protection of the Bureaucracy against Tobacco Industry Interference which was issued in compliance with the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) “expressly prohibits public officials and employees from soliciting or accepting, directly or indirectly, any gift, gratuity, favor, entertainment, loan or anything of monetary value 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 from any person or business related to the tobacco industry.”

But Remulla said the prohibition under the JMC is not new and is provided for under Republic Act (RA) No. 6713, the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, which expressly states that “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.”

“It must be noted that what is prohibited under both RA No. 6713 and JMC No. 2010-01 is the receipt or solicitation of public officials and employees of gifts in the course of their official functions,” Remulla also said. 

“The prohibition does not extend to the government agency or office itself,” he pointed out.

He also said that “JMC No. 2010-01 also imposes penalty upon the erring public official or employee, in case he or she violated said Circular, rather than the agency or department itself….”

“Given that the prohibition under JMC No. 2010-01 only expressly covers public officials and employees, the same cannot be interpreted to broadly extend to the national government, local government, and other government agencies, subdivisions, and offices,” he stressed.