MALOLOS CITY—Freedom of information advocates will mark the last 24 months in office of President Aquino with a coordinated signature campaign for the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill.
This came as members of the Right to Know Right Now (R2KRN) coalition launched the campaign yesterday the University of the Philippines (UP).
The said launch was graced by Senator Grace Poe, Jorge Almonte, Ramon del Rosario, FOI champions in the House of Representatives and members of civil society organizations.
The coordinated signature campaign for the FOI bill includes social media campaign, deployment of mobile teams that will distribute leaflets on busiest stations of the Metro and Light Rail Transits, and establishment of signon sites in selected places in Metro Manila and the provinces.
For the social media campaign, R2KRN encourages individuals to take personal or organization “selfies” in support of the campaign.
Lawyer Nepomuceno Malaluan, co-convenor of the R2KRN issued a pooled editorial saying “In exactly 24 months, the Aquino Administration that came to power on a ‘Social Contract with the Filipino People’ will come to a close.
Its trademark shibboleth: ‘Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap.’ Its path to governance: Daang Matuwid.”
The editorial furthered: “Today, we hear less and less of offi cial statements peppered with the same prose now. And yet, as the Aquino administration enters its twilight years, the Filipino people’s disaffection with unabated corruption in high places and jobless growth continues to rise. “
According to Malaluan, plunder and graft cases have been filed against some senators and congressmen mostly associated with the political opposition, for alleged misuse and abuse of pork barrel monies.
However, only a few other lawmakers allied with the Administration had also been implicated, “the investigators have shown much less vigor and spunk in running after them.”
He said that something is wrong and there is a big missing link referring to the FOI which “… will affirm with absolute certitude that the long arm of the law will snare all the crooks, whether foes or friends of the Administration.”
He said that while the cases are now unfolding on both legal and political fronts, “it is most worrisome that because the wheels of justice grind exceedingly slow in the country, their prosecution will stretch beyond the life of the Aquino Administration and past the next national and local elections. “
The editorial also noted that from the very beginning, “the Aquino Administration pledged to crack a simple equation – curb corruption to curb poverty. To most everyone it was clear that an FOI law could have served as fount and pivot of its reform agenda.”
It explained that an FOI law will define clear procedures and reasonable limits on citizen requests for information and documents vested with public interest and in the custody of public officials and agencies.
“And this is the essence of an FOI law – a rights-based permanent framework that is far more superior to the Administration’s voluntary disclosure of some public finance documents, or only those that it decides to post online.
About 100 countries across the world have enacted FOI laws. They have demonstrated how FOI serves as bedrock and enabler of most other rights of people to education, health, livelihood, property, security, and even life and happiness,” the editorial concluded.
