Aquino NAHADLOK sa FOI Law

[Eyemesem]

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Aquino fears FOI law would gag gov’t officials

Read more: Aquino fears FOI law would gag gov
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MANILA, Philippines—Imagine a secretary suddenly stopping midway through his presentation in a Cabinet meeting because she or he felt that it was too sensitive for the public to know.

President Aquino raised this scenario before Inquirer editors and staff on Thursday night, saying that this was his main concern about the freedom of information (FOI) bill that would grant the public access to government records, including minutes of meetings.
The 15th Congress adjourned in June without approving the FOI bill, which was not certified as “urgent” by Mr. Aquino.
The President told the Inquirer editors he wanted to have “discussions wherein nobody is intimidated to say what they have to say.”
If the minutes of Cabinet meetings are to be made available to the public, Mr. Aquino said it may not be uncommon to hear one official telling another: ‘I’d like to say this, but this is being recorded.’”
The President, who spoke to the editors after addressing a gathering of coordinators of the Asia News Network (ANN) at the Inquirer office, said he was aware that in the proposed FOI measure, transcripts of Cabinet meetings would be available to the public, except those pertaining to national security and diplomacy.
“National security and diplomatic concerns you can exclude; others you can include,” he said.
But Malacañang apparently wants to fine-tune the bill some more.
Another proposal would exempt the minutes or records of advice given or of opinions expressed during government policy formulation—which are invoked by the President as part of “presidential communication privilege” or when the disclosure would ostensibly undermine the free and frank provision of advice or exchange of views by public officials.
In the FOI bill, an executive order must be issued specifying the reasonable period after which this information could be made accessible to the public.
The issue of executive communication privilege became controversial after it was invoked by then Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri to refuse to reveal his deliberations with then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on a bribe-tainted national broadband contract with China’s ZTE telecommunications company.
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the Executive branch has submitted its own version of an FOI bill. The House of Representatives and Senate are expected to debate the proposals.
“Let them debate it because it’s a concern for all people,” he said.
But he added: “FOI proponents need to work on their constituency. A lot of us are for it but they need to work and convince the lawmakers that FOI is good for all of us,” Lacierda said.
On the other hand, proponents of the bill point out that the framers of the Constitution had decided that freedom of information was good for all Filipinos. They included it in a new Bill of Rights, and the public gave its nod when it approved the 1987 Constitution in a referendum.
Yet lawmakers over the past 25 years have failed to pass an implementing law that would make the constitutional right to information a reality.
Public outrage, fanned by news reports and state auditors’ reports of the large-scale misuse of the pork barrel, led to last Monday’s mammoth anticorruption rally at Rizal Park. Protesters called for the passage of the FOI bill to institutionalize transparency in the government as envisioned by the Constitution.
The measure seeks to criminalize acts such as falsely denying or concealing the existence of information for disclosure, and destroying information being requested under the FOI act.

i don't know what the hell he is afraid of. klaro man kaayo nga walay labot ang national security matters ani nga bill

we want transparency. that's one of the reasons nga after all these years, nakalusot nang mga binuang nila Napoles og mga corrupt government officials precisely because of lack of transparency. and now he says nga dili priority. and this is right after he says i-abolish daw niya ang PDAF (which is hardly abolished in as much as it's just "tweaked" into a different form but essentially still the same old PIG)

[lestat1116]

same ra ani pnoy cant scrap pdaf(pork barrel) kay hadlok pa impeach. maybe last year sa iyang term pa mo gawas na. but not now. kay basin sayo mo exit

[hush232002]

lisud i comment basta about aning baboybaboy

[jeremy lin]

imo rana huna2 nga nahadlok!ngano gud tawon mahadlok cya....

[cliff_drew]

Wala pa man gani first hearing mahadlok na.

[kit_cebu]

Wala pa man gani first hearing mahadlok na.

because we're gonna see PANTIES instead of brief/boxers under his pants...

[shearts]

mao ni mga questions nako para kay abnoy & i dare mga noytards to give LEGITIMATE answers to these questions.

1. why haven't we heard any news or investigation on his sister, ballsy aquino's extortion raps?

2. why won't he simply totally abolish pork barrel & just let DBM give the money from the national budget to the concerned agencies?

3. why isn't he willing to pass the FOI bill?

4. why isn't he willing to change our form of government to federalism/parliament when this is obviously better suited to the needs of our country?

5. why won't he include the audit reports of his admin? why only the fiscal years of 2007-2009? COA chair Grace Tan said the 2010 & 2011 audit reports are ready.

6. why haven't there any investigation on the death of Gerry Valeriano Ortega? he exposed the malampaya fund corruption. he was killed way back in 2011, but it is already 2013, hell we're about to go to 2014 & there hasn't been any update or investigation as far as the public knows.

tanawa ra gud na "surrender" kuno ni napoles, ang mga tanga & buta ra jud na mga noytards ang willing mutolon ani basura.

"young inspiration" kuno ni abnoy. unsa mn tawn pwera gaba na nga binuang oi!

niya karon daghan kaayo rason why dili niya ipa-implement ang FOI bill? sus like i said ang mga noytards ra jud ang willing mutolon ani nga mga basura.

i only have 3 things i challenge abnoy to do.
1. totally abolish pork barrel in any form, which goes without saying that he, as the president, VP, all members of the senate & congress will no longer have ANY access to the national budget

2.implement the FOI bill, no buts, no excuses whatsover.

3.change our form of government to federalism/parliament.

as someone who has paid full tax, on time without failure & currently sending monthly remittances to our country, i have all the right in the world to question or comment about how things are going on in our country.

and right now, one of the main issues is pork barrel.

[æRLO]

I dont think nahadlok siya anang FOI.

He simply used it as one of his vehicles for his candidacy, and really did not intend to deliver on his promise. He said he'll make transparency a priority in his tenure, he did not. That's an outright lie in my book.

Otherwise he is a spineless coward hiding behind the guise of national security. He knows damn well other countries have successful FOI acts that did not compromise national security.

[amingb]

Walay Politico dili mahadlok anang FOI bill kay para nako tanan Politico sa Pilipinas mga salbahis .. panahon ni Al Copone sa America nga mga Politico naa sa Payroll sa mga syndicato, mao ni nahitabo karon sa atoa ..

.... ug ma approve na mahibaw-an na ilahang mga binuhatan nga walay hinongdan, systematic biya nang corruption gibuhat nila karon lisod sa sakpan unless naay FOI law dali rana masakpan. Effective jud kaau ni siya sa to minimized corruption or zero corruption at all ...

"The study shows that countries with mature FOI laws tend to have much lower corruption levels and higher standards of living than countries with younger laws, or no laws at all,”

Karon pending jud na sa congress kay ang mga Tongressman hadlok mo support ana nga measure .... parihas ragud ni anang Anti Dynasty law nga 26 na ka tuig hangtod karon wala pajud na balaora.

[cliff_drew]

because we're gonna see PANTIES instead of brief/boxers under his pants...

Hahaha.

Ugma na daw sugdan ang hearing http://www.senate.gov.ph/press_relea.../0903_poe1.asp