Press Release
January 30, 2009

Our Right to Information is our Weapon Against Corruption - Kiko

Independent Senator Kiko Pangilinan expressed alarm over Malacañang's move to veto the Right to Information section in the proposed 2009 P1.4 trillion budget. The Section on "Right to Information was included in the 2009 general appropriations bill primarily as a safety net of transparency and accountability in government. The section provides: "Subject to limitations as may be provided by law, the right of the people to information on matters of public concern, guaranteed under Section 7, Article III of the Constitution as well as with the state policy of full disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest, every government agency shall, upon request by any citizen, make available the data under their possession for information, scrutiny, copying, or reproduction of all records of information, in any form whatsoever, pertaining to the implementation of the appropriations under this Act including but not limited to information on projects, disbursement of funds, reports, contract bidding and awards."

Kiko said that this section was previously approved by Congress for the 2007 budget. However, it was subsequently vetoed by the Office of the President. It was not proposed for the 2008 budget. Thus, these budgets did not provide for transparency, and could therefore not be monitored effectively by the private sector. This is perhaps a key reason why corruption has become increasingly worse. Less transparency means less accountability and more corruption.

The Office of the President once again did not include the Right to Information section in its proposed 2009 P1.4 trillion budget. It is not clear whether this was devious desire or just an oversight. "Congress included the provision in the 2009 budget, but Malacañang may veto it again, like it did for the 2007 budget. This is alarming. The newly approved P1.4 trillion budget has several provisions that should be made transparent to minimize corruption abuses," Kiko said.

Kiko cites from the CODE-NGO January 2009 publication "Of Scams and Lump Sums," that the lump sum amounts of P9.4 billion for rice, P6.0 billion for irrigation and P3.7 billion for farm to market roads in the DA budget cannot be monitored without the Right to Information section. "How are we going to monitor now how the DA will utilize the funds? We don't want another scam similar to the 'fertilizer scam' to happen."

Kiko who is a staunch supporter for transparency and accountability in government said that ABS-CBN released a report on January 30, 2008 about "The head of America's chief global poverty-fighting arm said indications of worsening corruption in the Philippines is blocking the way to hundreds of millions of dollars in additional help. Ambassador John Danilovich, Chief Executive Officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) said they have "serious concerns" with corruption indicators for the Philippines."

Kiko said that last December 11, 2008, Danilovich announced that the Philippines failed to qualify for a large scale grant under the US government foreign assistance program. Quoting Danilovich, Kiko said that the MCC will not sign a compact until the country passes the indicator criteria on corruption. And that the Board called upon the government of the Philippines to intensify its efforts to fight corruption. "Hindi ba nakakahiya na ito at naisisiwalat ang talamak na koruption sa ating bansa? Sino ba ang mga numero unong gumagawa ng koruption, hindi ba mga opisyal ng ating gobierno?" Kiko said.

Kiko further cited the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) survey of 13 Asian countries where the Philippines was perceived as the most corrupt. "Our country received an alarmingly high 9.0 on a 10-point scale, where 10 is the worst possible score. That's how bad corruption is today in our country," Kiko said.

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