The 14th Congress orchestrating a coup de grace on us by killing the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill offers no surprise. If the congressmen had done otherwise, that would have been a spectacle to behold in awe and inspiration, a complete turn of events, a real stunner if not a miracle, so to speak. At the time the FOI bill’s supposed birthing, there was no quorum, 139 respectable congressmen were again A-B-S-E-N-T.
When we visit the crime scene, the unnecessary demise of this matter-of-life-and-death bill was probably not only due to the usual suspect of play of numbers and incompetence. Witnesses are saying there could be more. The FOI Bill’s death is no suicide, according to some members of the House, who swore in their honour that indeed they were no ghosts. They were PRESENT(!) during the roll call for warm bodies. The Speaker of the House Representative Norberto Nograles simply ignored them because the Speaker and his cadre of supporters were bent to execute the sinister plan of killing the FOI bill. The plot thickens.
“The Speaker has a double standard in getting a quorum. If he wants a law passed, he always finds a way. But if he does not want it, he has plenty of reasons,” says Rep. Arthur Villanueva of the Citizens” Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC). But then again, why would the Speaker want the FOI Bill dead? There is nothing in the bill that spells disaster to Juan/Juana De La Cruz. The FOI Bill simply ascertain and make known the democratic rights of every Filipino to have full access to all information pertaining to the conduct of the state. This is especially true to the deals that government officials enter into, including such mega contracts as ZTE, fertilizers for farmers, equipment for elections, etc. If the mere mention of such deals make you blood pressure go up, it is because we were all kept in the dark when these deals were hatched or if these notorious deals were cancelled, it was due to the vigilance of people, mostly journalists who had the courage and wherewithal to expose them.
Just imagine for a moment that every able body is given the weapon, the means, and the concrete mandate to access all government transactions that public officials enter into. This is like putting lights to corners of the dark rooms of our house. We are given a chance to catch and put burglars to prison, if not shot them, if need be (Ask anyone who has experienced being robbed, and the latter is quite often the preferred choice).
But then again, are we barking at the wrong House? Were the honourable congressmen to blame? Were they the real plotters? Or, they simply acted as executioners? We should instead be going to Malacanang and inquire there. Of course we run the risk of getting a slammed door or a bullet in the head, instead of the truth. Malacanang after all is known to many to be allergic to truth.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) offers a glimpse on the nature and motive of the crime, “The only conclusion we can draw about the badly scripted drama that Nograles and his accomplice—Majority Leader Arthur Defensor and Camiguin Representative Pedro Romualdo—acted out is that, even in his last moment as a Speaker, the political expediency that characterized the out-going administration continues to trump our long-suffering people’s hopes for good governance and an end to corruption.”
However, are we paying attention? The congressmen acted as expected. The “betrayal,” as the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines aptly frames it, bears strong resemblance to a story of a monk, who once a upon a time, was asked by a scorpion to cross the river, lest the poor scorpion gets drowned for not knowing how to swim. Because it is in the nature (and perhaps training) of the monk to help creatures of all kinds, sinister or not, the honourable monk could not but be of service to the beleaguered scorpion. You know the rest of the story. The honourable monk received the venomous bite of the despicable scorpion in spite of the monk’s generosity. The moral, or so as we are told, is that the monk and the scorpion, acted as they acted because their behaviours are “embedded in their genes” (Does the phrase ever sound so familiar? If so, you must truly be a Filipino concerned of the moral leadership or the lack of it of our Patria Adorada).
I heard a mambabatas (not mambabarang eh) over the radio that FOI Bill was not worth supporting because it does not provide the necessary sanctions, and the right to secure information anyway is written in the Constitution. Given the nature again of our public servants to refuse, cry for immunity and ultimately deny us of precious information, when asked about public transactions, can any Juan, Hesus or Maria or Joseph (susmaryosep!) simply go to the busy, very busy indeed, government offices and demand information? You tell me. Any addition therefore, to the right to know, is a welcome development.
Public officials have the penchant to operate in the dark. There are a few pleasant things that actually transpire in the dark. This is especially true with transactions. This nine-year-old bill precisely seeks to improve transparency in government transactions and to uphold the people’s right to know. This is not an issue of sanctions, this is an issue of gifting the Filipino people the notion that you can have access to verifiable information, especially the shady and run-of–the mill contracts that have been the mark of this out-going administration.
Manila Representative Bienvenido Abante captured the very essence why we need FOI,”I believe the Filipino people should know that some congressmen are wasting Filipinos’ money.” We know this, right? And we know more, the infection is not only true to some congressmen. With the FOI, we will have the access to verify allegations and secure the necessary information in our defence. It is said that 40 percent of our budget goes to corruption. With the FOI, this will not be hearsay or something that our public officials normally do, i.e., deny the allegations, use whatever immunity they have, even if when caught getting the cookies on the cookie jars. They can cry, as they often do: where’s your evidence? Present on our noses, at our disposal, will be the I-N-F-O-R-M-A-T-I-O-N.
Anything, any move that can make our people pro-active in the fight against corruption that has hounded our nation for long, is a welcome treat, is a fresh air in this stale moral environment, for our children to grow up to. Yes Michelle, for the survival of this nation, information is like food, like water or air. Information is integral to our collective and individual well-being.
And more. Information, as the Bill says it, is freedom. That simple.
tobe_wtdpoor@yahoo.com
When we visit the crime scene, the unnecessary demise of this matter-of-life-and-death bill was probably not only due to the usual suspect of play of numbers and incompetence. Witnesses are saying there could be more. The FOI Bill’s death is no suicide, according to some members of the House, who swore in their honour that indeed they were no ghosts. They were PRESENT(!) during the roll call for warm bodies. The Speaker of the House Representative Norberto Nograles simply ignored them because the Speaker and his cadre of supporters were bent to execute the sinister plan of killing the FOI bill. The plot thickens.
“The Speaker has a double standard in getting a quorum. If he wants a law passed, he always finds a way. But if he does not want it, he has plenty of reasons,” says Rep. Arthur Villanueva of the Citizens” Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC). But then again, why would the Speaker want the FOI Bill dead? There is nothing in the bill that spells disaster to Juan/Juana De La Cruz. The FOI Bill simply ascertain and make known the democratic rights of every Filipino to have full access to all information pertaining to the conduct of the state. This is especially true to the deals that government officials enter into, including such mega contracts as ZTE, fertilizers for farmers, equipment for elections, etc. If the mere mention of such deals make you blood pressure go up, it is because we were all kept in the dark when these deals were hatched or if these notorious deals were cancelled, it was due to the vigilance of people, mostly journalists who had the courage and wherewithal to expose them.
Just imagine for a moment that every able body is given the weapon, the means, and the concrete mandate to access all government transactions that public officials enter into. This is like putting lights to corners of the dark rooms of our house. We are given a chance to catch and put burglars to prison, if not shot them, if need be (Ask anyone who has experienced being robbed, and the latter is quite often the preferred choice).
But then again, are we barking at the wrong House? Were the honourable congressmen to blame? Were they the real plotters? Or, they simply acted as executioners? We should instead be going to Malacanang and inquire there. Of course we run the risk of getting a slammed door or a bullet in the head, instead of the truth. Malacanang after all is known to many to be allergic to truth.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) offers a glimpse on the nature and motive of the crime, “The only conclusion we can draw about the badly scripted drama that Nograles and his accomplice—Majority Leader Arthur Defensor and Camiguin Representative Pedro Romualdo—acted out is that, even in his last moment as a Speaker, the political expediency that characterized the out-going administration continues to trump our long-suffering people’s hopes for good governance and an end to corruption.”
However, are we paying attention? The congressmen acted as expected. The “betrayal,” as the Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines aptly frames it, bears strong resemblance to a story of a monk, who once a upon a time, was asked by a scorpion to cross the river, lest the poor scorpion gets drowned for not knowing how to swim. Because it is in the nature (and perhaps training) of the monk to help creatures of all kinds, sinister or not, the honourable monk could not but be of service to the beleaguered scorpion. You know the rest of the story. The honourable monk received the venomous bite of the despicable scorpion in spite of the monk’s generosity. The moral, or so as we are told, is that the monk and the scorpion, acted as they acted because their behaviours are “embedded in their genes” (Does the phrase ever sound so familiar? If so, you must truly be a Filipino concerned of the moral leadership or the lack of it of our Patria Adorada).
I heard a mambabatas (not mambabarang eh) over the radio that FOI Bill was not worth supporting because it does not provide the necessary sanctions, and the right to secure information anyway is written in the Constitution. Given the nature again of our public servants to refuse, cry for immunity and ultimately deny us of precious information, when asked about public transactions, can any Juan, Hesus or Maria or Joseph (susmaryosep!) simply go to the busy, very busy indeed, government offices and demand information? You tell me. Any addition therefore, to the right to know, is a welcome development.
Public officials have the penchant to operate in the dark. There are a few pleasant things that actually transpire in the dark. This is especially true with transactions. This nine-year-old bill precisely seeks to improve transparency in government transactions and to uphold the people’s right to know. This is not an issue of sanctions, this is an issue of gifting the Filipino people the notion that you can have access to verifiable information, especially the shady and run-of–the mill contracts that have been the mark of this out-going administration.
Manila Representative Bienvenido Abante captured the very essence why we need FOI,”I believe the Filipino people should know that some congressmen are wasting Filipinos’ money.” We know this, right? And we know more, the infection is not only true to some congressmen. With the FOI, we will have the access to verify allegations and secure the necessary information in our defence. It is said that 40 percent of our budget goes to corruption. With the FOI, this will not be hearsay or something that our public officials normally do, i.e., deny the allegations, use whatever immunity they have, even if when caught getting the cookies on the cookie jars. They can cry, as they often do: where’s your evidence? Present on our noses, at our disposal, will be the I-N-F-O-R-M-A-T-I-O-N.
Anything, any move that can make our people pro-active in the fight against corruption that has hounded our nation for long, is a welcome treat, is a fresh air in this stale moral environment, for our children to grow up to. Yes Michelle, for the survival of this nation, information is like food, like water or air. Information is integral to our collective and individual well-being.
And more. Information, as the Bill says it, is freedom. That simple.
tobe_wtdpoor@yahoo.com
