Trillanes encourages whistleblowers with additional benefits and protection

In order to encourage more whistleblowers to come out and participate in the government's campaign in curbing out corruption and other illegal practices, Senator Senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV has filed Senate Bill No. 290, or the bill seeking additional protection, security and other benefits for whistleblowers.

According to Trillanes: "Several laws have been created to encourage whistleblowing; however, the existing legal framework barely meets the need for whistleblowers' protection and support, and fails to provide them attractive incentives, considering the risks whistleblowers face when they surface."

Under SBN 290, Trillanes seeks to further uplift the welfare and protection of whistleblowers by giving them allowance sufficient for their daily basic financial requirements, housing and personal security. They are also given adequate protection by imposing penalties to employers, firms, companies or corporations that reject qualified applicants, on the ground that they are qualified whistleblowers or when a retaliatory act is committed against them in the workplace.

All government agencies will also be required to conspicuously display salient points of the law, including the rights and protections whistleblowers.

Further, to support the government's campaign against graft and corruption in the government, the bill seeks to encourage witnesses to divulge the erring practices of public officials and employees by providing them additional monetary reward equivalent to at least ten percent of the amount which may be recovered as a result of their disclosure or the amount of One Million Pesos, whichever is lower.

"Many potential whistleblowers are discouraged from surfacing due to the risks it involves, including the security threat it entails, which sometimes completely destroy their future and prevent them from having a normal life. It is my hope that through this measure we can address the needs and promote the welfare of our whistleblowers, in exchange of the information relevant to our campaign in promoting good governance in the country," Trillanes further explained.