Press Release
August 18, 2011

Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter S. Cayetano
Main Points raised during the Hearing on the FOI Bill
of the Committee on Information & Mass Media

Institutional Reform necessary for transparency & accountability

  •  Whatever we plant, we will reap. The more we delay institutional reform, the more the corrupt officials in the administration can victimize the Filipino people.

  • The FoI is essential to good governance.

  •  Leave the 2016 administration with a legacy of institutional reform so the likes of Arroyo administration can not come back

Inform the People

  • ? ? ? ? Intelligent ang people, arrogant lang ang ibang nasa gobyerno. Hindi natin pwedeng sabihin na halimbawa, pagdating sa Spratlys, hindi naman alam ng mga tao ang nangyayari. Dapat nating isipin na kaya hindi nila alam dahil wala silang information, walang access.

  • To DFA: I agree that you be given the leeway in your decisions. But the reality is that while other countries already know our positions, our own people do not.

Clarifications

  •  What's important is we agree on the policy and work on the specifics later.

  •  When information is requested, only official and relevant statements should be given to the people.

  •  Law on classification and declassification of documents should be included in the FoI.

  •  We agree in principle na kailangan ito. We can all think of situations where there will be a gray area. How do we discuss those situations? How do you put leeway in the bill?

Focal Body

  •  In the working draft of the palace, the Ombudsman is the focal body because it's independent.

Information Commission

  •  With the Information Commission, ang utang na loob ay nasa Presidente pa din. This is because the budget still comes from the government.

  •  The question now is: How do we keep them independent? How do we make it possible for people to file cases themselves?

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