Statement of the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition
On President Aquino’s Open Governance Partnership (OGP)
Forum and Events in New York, USA
Manila, 16 September 2011

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.

On the heels of P-Noy's failure to endorse the Freedom of Information bill during the second Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) meeting on August 16, Malacañang made its first appearance in a Senate public hearing through its communications team’s top officials.

At a committee hearing on August 18 on the FOI bill spearheaded by Senator Gregorio Honasan, chair of the Senate Committee on Information, and Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, officials Ramon Carandang and Manuel Quezon III explained the exclusion of the FOI Bill from priority legislations identified by the president during the LEDAC meeting, this administration’s second since Mr. Aquino assumed presidency in June 2010. The first meeting was held in January this year; the Executive did not consider FOI priority legislation at that time.

“At this point, we would rather have a bill that could get the most consensus from all the stakeholders, rather than a bill that comes before we are ready, and that would be objected to vehemently by some of the stakeholders,” claimed Carandang, a former  media person and now member of Malacañang’s communication team.

However, the foregoing discussions during the hearing revealed more agreements to expedite the process of passing the bill, as there seems to be no obstacles to it as far as the Senate and civil society advocates are concerned.

Lawyer NepomucenoMalaluan, co-convenor of the Right to Know Right Coalition who was also present during the Senate hearing, pointed out that the current administration is not starting on blank page with the FOI given the years of advocacy and public education work done by civil society organizations, and the near-passage of an FOI law in the 14th Congress. It is not, either, as if the bill has been lacking in “unanimous support” from across the social and political spectrum, including the government sector, Malaluan stressed.

“We’re put in a bind as to how to read these conflicting signals,” R2KRN convenor said, referring to previous assurances made by the president himself that he supports FOI but he just had questions or issues about it. The coalition had engaged Malacañang informally by responding to several issues it had raised on the provisions of the FOI bill supported by the advocates. (See statement of R2KRN)

Senator Cayetano echoed calls by the civil society advocates to expedite the sponsorship process of the bill. “Kailangan pabilisin na ito [This has to be speeded up],” he urged. It’s not enough that the P-noy government is working at being a clean and transparent administration, the solon even said.

Senator Honasan, for his part, pressed for a concrete timeline for passing the bill as well as a clear commitment to an open, transparent deliberative procedure on the part of Malacañang.

At the closing of the hearing, Cayetano expressed hope that the hearing would be “beginning of the end of discussions,” so that that the eventual passage of the FOI law could take place. “I think the Palace gets the message that not only is it [the FOI Bill] important and essential, it’s also urgent.”

“There’s a saying in Filipino,” reminded Malaluan, “Kung gusto may paraan, pero kung ayaw maraming dahilan.”  In an earlier statement, the R2KRN had asked if it were indeed the president himself that is objecting to the bill and not “stakeholders.” Read the statement

STATEMENT of the Right to Know. Right Now! Coalition/
Bantay FOI! Sulong FOI! Campaign
On President Aquino’s Failure to Endorse the FOI Bill to LEDAC
17 August 2011

Kung talagang gusto, hahanap ng paraan.
Kung talagang ayaw, hahanap ng dahilan.

This is exactly where President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III stands on the proposed Freedom of Information bill, which seeks only to enforce a constitutionally guaranteed right of the people to know and secure documents in the custody of government agencies.

The President says he supports the bill in principle, but that he has “specific questions and concerns” that he wants to be settled, before he endorses it as his priority legislation. His concerns, the President says, include his fears that FOI could unlock documents that might expose people to kidnappers, cause government losses in right-of-way cases because of property price speculations, and many other unwanted results.

The Right to Know Right Now! Network launched its “Bantay FOI! Sulong FOI” on July 19, with freedom of information (FOI) champion lawmakers from the House of Representatives and Senate as key guests.  Chair of the Senate Committee on Information Gregorio “Gringgo” Honasan, Senator Teofisto ”TG” Guingona Jr. and Deputy Speaker Lorenzo “Erin” Tanada were present in the launch to articulate their commitment to the passage of an FOI Act under the current 15th Congress. 

“Now more than ever, we need an FOI law to institutionalize transparency as the mandatory norm, rather than a discretionary matter, for all elective and appointive officials, across all branches of government. With an FOI law, we envision an empowered and vigilant citizenry that will make full and responsible use of the right to information to secure government services, exact accountability from government officials in the use of public funds and the exercise of governmental powers, and facilitate the effective exercise of related rights of citizenship such as participation in policy-making and governance,” the R2KRN network said in its manifesto read by Malou Mangahas, Executive Director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ).

In his opening remarks, lawyer Nepomuceno Malaluan stressed the still absent public declaration of commitment of President Aquino to an FOI law; the president did not include it in his administration's priority legislative agenda early this year. Malaluan, of the Institute on Freedom of Information (I-FOI) and national convenor of the network, also told the history of the campaign for FOI law, which has spanned a decade and half. The new website of the network was also launched during the event at Annabel's Restaurant on Tomas Morato. (For more updates please log on to www.ifoi.ph)

Representatives of Partido Manggagawa, Alliance of Progressive Labor, PSLink (Public Sector Link), Focus on the Global South, PCIJ, National Union of Journalists in the Philippines, Libertas, Kaya Natin, Transparency and Accountability Network (TAN) also came to make a show of force as members of the network. Artist Noel Cabangon, a popular figure among civil society organizations, rendered songs he wrote on FOI.