‘Long on promises,
short on political will’

The following is a statement by the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition on the Philippine Government’s refusal to prioritize the Freedom of Information Bill. The statement was issued just a few days before President Benigno S. Aquino III delivers the keynote address at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) forum in New York where he is expected to boast of his government’s policy of transparency and openness.

Double-talk on FOI
Gov’t long on promises, short on political will

Statement by the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition

ON 20 SEPTEMBER 2011 in New York, President Benigno S. Aquino III will deliver the keynote address at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) forum dubbed “The Power of Open: A Global Discussion”. The conference brings together governments and representatives of civil society, industry, academe, and media. The panels will discuss the role of openness in improving government responsiveness and accountability, fighting corruption, and creating efficiencies, innovation and growth.

Later in the day, President Aquino will join high-level representatives of seven other countries (US, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, and UK) that along with the Philippines comprise the government members of the OGP steering committee. They will officially launch the OGP by signing a declaration of principles, and by submitting their respective country action plans for greater openness. They will also welcome a new group of 29 countries, as of the latest update, into the OGP fold.

The OGP is a multilateral initiative led by the US that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to scale up their current open government practices and norms to promote transparency, empower citizens, and fight corruption.

In his remarks at the conference, and in his interaction with world leaders, President Aquino will score political (and economic) points on the world stage when he renders a rosy picture of the transparency, accountability, and participation initiatives of his administration.

But on the home front, we do not find credible basis for President Aquino to beat his breast as an exemplar of transparency and open government in the world.

More than 14 months into his term, President Aquino has not mustered the political will to honor his campaign pact with the people` to assure the passage of the Freedom of Information Act, the legislation the country needs to provide substantive, procedural, and institutional guarantee to the people’s constitutional right to information.

Instead, the promise of support has since turned into ever-mutating Presidential concerns over the FOI bill. After months of work by a Malacañang study group on the FOI bill, we have not seen any appreciable advance in the President’s position, or lack of position on the matter.

The lack of political will on the part of President Aquino to push for the passage of the FOI law is mirrored in the lack of credible commitment in the draft action plan for OGP prepared by Department of Budget and Management Secretary Florencio B. Abad for President Aquino’s approval. The draft Plan speaks of the FOI in one and only one paragraph:

“Pushing for Freedom of Information. The government will strive for the passage of a Freedom of Information Act within the current presidency, in consultation with CSOs. Pending this, it will develop and issue an executive-wide policy to improve access to information – including requirements for accurate, timely and understandable summary disclosures by government departments through their websites – within 360 days.”

We do not find comfort in the draft plan’s statement that President Aquino’s administration will “strive for the passage of a Freedom of Information Act within the current presidency”. On the contrary, it has been his statements of concern and refusal to endorse the passage of the FOI law that has been the main reason why it is now languishing in the House of Representatives, and moving at a snail’s pace in the Senate.

Neither do we find comfort in the draft’s promise of an executive-wide policy to improve access to information. It will be limited in coverage and application only to the executive agencies, thereby exempting the judiciary and the legislature, as well as independent constitutional bodies. It will not settle strategic legal gaps like exceptions and penalties for denial of access to information requests, and other matters that only the legislature may resolve. It could be revised or reversed at the whim and caprice of succeeding Presidents, if not the incumbent President.

We did consider such an executive order to be a good interim measure at the start of President Aquino’s term, under the premise that he would categorically and unambiguously support the immediate passage of the FOI law. But at this point where we have been endlessly running after his elusive concerns, we see the proposed executive-wide policy as only justifying the further delay in the passage of the FOI law.

We therefore see the draft Philippine Action Plan’s offer to have an executive order – with a feeble assurance that the government will see after the passage of an FOI Act before President Aquino bows out of power in 2016 – as legitimizing President Aquino’s low transparency comfort zone, and his ignoring of the long standing people’s clamor for an FOI law.

While we acknowledge ongoing transparency efforts by the executive, these have been uneven and concentrated mainly in those headed by secretaries that are more open to transparency and accountability practices, such as DBM and DILG.

Also, there have been serious reversals in access to disclosures (statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth or SALN) by public officials. The judiciary has long clamped on access to SALNs of Justices and judges. At the Office of the Ombudsman, there remains a 2009 guideline (Memorandum Circular No. 1) that limits the “legitimate” reasons for requests, requires requests to be subscribed and sworn to, and introduces a wide discretion for denying requests for SALNs. More recently, the Civil Service Commission adopted Resolution No. 100356 dated March 15, 2011, which also required that requests for SALNs be sworn to, imposes additional documentation support from requesters, and charges a fee of P200 (US$5) for a copy of each SALN. All these run counter to the access standards prescribed by Republic Act No. 6713, or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

In sum, piecemeal and uneven transparency efforts will not institutionalize public access to information the way passage of the FOI law would.

In truth, it is within President Aquino’s power, in fact, it is his constitutional duty, to decisively assist rather than hinder the immediate passage of the FOI law. The OGP process provides the President another opportunity (after missing out on FOI in his inaugural address, two state of the nation addresses, and two Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council Meetings) to show political will.

The Philippine Action Plan for OGP needs to express full, firm, and explicit commitment to the immediate passage of the FOI law in the present Congress. In practical terms, this will require the President to provide a definite list of his concerns, and for the executive to draw up its proposed amendments and to present them to Congress within the remaining months of 2011 for wide consultation and legislative action.

Failing in this, we call a spade a spade: double-talk is the Aquino government’s FOI policy.

THE RIGHT TO KNOW, RIGHT KNOW! COALITION
16 September 2011

 

Signed:

1. Atty. Nepomuceno Malaluan, Co-Director, Institute for Freedom of Information

2. Mr. Vincent Lazatin, Executive Director, Transparency and Accountability Network

3. Ms. Malou Mangahas, Executive Director, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

4. Bishop Broderick Pabillo, National Director, Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines – National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace

5. Mr. Red Batario, Executive Director; Ms. G Sevilla Alvarez
Center for Community Journalism and Development

6. Ms. Rowena Caranza-Paraan, Secretary General, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines

7. Mr. Ramon R. Tuazon, President
Dr. Madz B. Quiamco, Dean of Graduate School
Dr. Florangel Rosario-Braid, Trustee, Senior Adviser and President Emeritus
Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication

8. Mr. Edgar Palarca, President
Ms. Annie Enriquez Geron, General Secretary
Ms. Crispiniano Tayong, Deputy General Secretary, Mindanao Regional Council
Mr. Gil Villegas, Deputy General Secretary, Visayas Regional Council
Mr. Reynaldo Jesuitas, Deputy General Secretary, Luzon Regional Council
Mr. Edilberto Pardinas, Deputy General Secretary, NCR Regional Council
Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK)

9. Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility

10. Prof. Leonor M. Briones, Lead Convenor, Social Watch Philippines

11. Ms. Ana Maria R. Nemenzo, National Coordinator, WomanHealth Philippines

12. Ms. Jenina Joy Chavez, Coordinator, Focus on the Global South – Philippines

13. Ms. Maxine Tanya Hamada, Executive Director, The International Center for Innovation, Transformation, and Excellence in Governance (INCITEGov)

14. Mr. Joshua Mata, Secretary General, Alliance of Progressive Labor

15. Mr. Elso U. Cabangon, Secretary General, Filipino Migrant Workers Group

16. Mr. Isagani Serrano, President, Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement

17. Prof. Rene Ofreneo, Director, Center for Labor Justice

18. Ms. Yuen Abana, Campaign Coordinator, Partido ng Mangagawa

19. Atty. Eirene Jhone Aguila, Kaya Natin! Movement for Good Governance

20. Ms. Judy A. Pasimio, Executive Director, Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC-KsK/Friends of the Earth-Phils)

21. Mr. Gus Miclat, Executive Director, Initiatives for International Dialogue

22. Ms. Maita F. Gomez, Coordinator, Bantay Kita

23. Ms. Jessica Reyes-Cantos, Lead Convenor, Rice Watch and Action Network

24. Mr. Norman V. Cabrera, Secretary General, Ang Kapatiran Party

25. Mr. Jaybee Garganera, National Coordinator, Alyansa Tigil Mina

26. Mr. Joseph Purugganan, Coordinator, EU-ASEAN FTA Campaign Network-Philippines

27. Ms. Carol Arguillas, Chairperson, MindaNews

28. Ms. Rorie Fajardo, Project Manager, Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project

29. Mr. Rogelio Abdulrachman Teves, Co-convenor, Development Roundtable Series – Mindanao

30. Mr. Rolando Pacanot, OIC Secretary General, Freedom from Debt Coalition – Southern Mindanao

31. Mr. Romeo Cabugnason, Chairman, Alyansa ng Maralitang Pilipino

32. Bro. Jun Pastoral, Chairperson, Sanlakas – Davao

33. Mr. Floro Francisco

34. Mr. Sammy Gamboa

35. Mr. Fred Lubang, Regional Representative, Nonviolence International Southeast Asia

36. Mr. Mark Dia, Country Representative, Greenpeace Southeast Asia (Philippines)

37. Ms. Tin Borja, Chairperson, UP ALYANSA, UP Diliman

38. Ms. Mabel Ogoshi, President, BUKLOD CSSP, UP Diliman

39. Ms. Diega Villanueva, President, UP Organization of Human Rights Advocates, College of Law, UP Diliman

40. Ms. Ellene A. Sana, Executive Director, Center for Migrant Advocacy

41. Mr. Salvador H. Feranil, Managing Director, Philippine Network of Rural Development Institutes – PhilNet-RDI in Mindanao

42. Mr. Abner Francisco, Program Director, Pulso ng Bayan, DXCA Charm Radio-Kidapawan and Chairperson, Watchful Advocates for Transparent, Clean and Honest Governance (WATCH)-Kidapawan, North Cotabato

43. Mr. Ledrolen Manriquez, Acting National Coordinator;
Mr. Charlie Saceda, Projects Coordinator
PECOJON-The Peace and Conflict Journalism Network Philippines

44. Mr. Neptalie Batolenio, NUJP-Misamis Occidental

45. Fr. Archie Casey, Justice and Peace and Integrity of Creation, Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines

46. Mr. Walter I. Balane, President, Bukidnon Press Club