Key ally: PNoy stand on FOI shows indifference to 'boss'

By Cong B. Corrales

InterAksyon.com

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines (05 Nov 2011, 12:15 PM)- It is ironic for President Benigno Aquino III to continue professing that the Filipino people are his “boss” when it is becoming apparent he continues to underestimate them, a key ally said here Friday.

Deputy Speaker Lorenzo “Erin” R. Tañada, III, principal author of the Freedom of Information bill, told reporters during a visit here Friday of his dismay over Aquino’s indifference to the measure when “it is supposed to be the cornerstone of his governance slogan.”

“What’s so sad is that President Aquino believes the people will not be responsible enough to handle public information,” Tanada said. “The citizens are ready to receive information for them to make informed decisions.”

At an open forum with Southeast Asian business leaders in late September, Aquino said: “A Freedom of Information Act sounds so good and noble but at the same time, first of all, you’ll notice that here in this country there’s a tendency of getting information and not really utilizing it for the proper purposes.”

The Philippine Press Institute, in a 19-page position paper drafted during a forum on the FOI bill in mid-October, accused Aquino of being “childish in handling the issue and warned him to stop underestimating the press” and demanded the measure’s immediate passage and enactment.

Tanada also brushed off Aquino’s apprehensions that media would abuse an FOI law.

“I believe (the Philippine) media is responsible. They know what is right and wrong. The so-called irresponsible media (practitioners) are only a few. Without access to information, reportage of government issues will be open to speculations and tend to be sensationalized,” the Deputy Speaker, who represents Quezon province, said.

In an emailed reply to questions, lawyer Nepomuceno Malalulan, lead convenor of the Right to Know, Right Now Network, said the FOI bill is practically gathering dust in the public information committees of both the House and the Senate because of “Malacañang’s creation of a study group to address President Aquino’s concerns.”

“Rep. Tañada consulted with the study group and in the process stalled the committee process, in the hope of getting the executive concurrence on a common version. I think that the Senate also waited for the result of the study,” Malaluan said.

However Aquino did not endorse the study group’s proposed amendments “when it was presented to him before the second LEDAC (Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council),” Malaluan said.

The Right to Know, Right Now Network, a coalition of organizations and individuals from various sectors, has been at the forefront of the campaign to pass the FOI bill. It posits that the “public considers access to official information is still so complicated and lengthy for the layperson that by the time the information it needs is released, it may no longer be needed.”

Stressing the importance of having an FOI law, Tanada cited the recent clash between government troops and the MILF in Basilan that left 19 Special Forces troops dead.

He said most of the reports were speculative because vital public information was not readily available.

For his part, Malaluan said the “challenge now is for Congress to proceed even without (Aquino’s) inclusion of FOI in his legislative priorities.”

“Senator (Gregorio) Honasan has given his commitment to proceed. We are hoping that will have a committee report ready soon,” he added.

But Malaluan said they have not had a similar commitment from the Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, who chairs the House public information committee.

“We are still trying to set a meeting with House Speaker (Feliciano) Belmonte (Jr.) to appeal to him to allow the committee process to proceed, similar to the Senate,” Malaluan said.

He said the House held one committee hearing on November 23 last year during which Tanada was named chair of the Technical Working Group.

“The TWG met last February 3 and Rep. Tanada has submitted to the committee chair his proposed consolidation of the bills. The Senate has held two hearings, the first on October 14, 2010 and the second was last August 8, this year,” Malaluan said.

Despite the seemingly bleak prospects for the FOI’s passage, Tanada said he remains optimistic.

“We did it in the 14th Congress. I feel we can do it again,” he said.

He added the “committee on public information needs only to set the FOI bill as an agenda (item) when we resume.”

“He (Aquino) has to understand that, even as he keeps on saying his administration is transparent, this institutional reform is not for his term because we don’t know if the next administration will be as transparent as Aquino’s,” Tanada said.

First published in InterAksyon.com.