Author: Ed Lingao

FIREWORKS erupted during Tuesday’s House Committee on Public Information hearing on the long-delayed Freedom of Information (FOI) bill.

But when the smoke cleared, FOI advocates realized that the lone victim that lay dead on the floor was, again, the Freedom of Information bill.

Members of the Right to Know Right Now! Coalition said congressmen opposed to the FOI bill had effectively murdered the measure through deliberate moves to delay discussions on the bill until there was no more time left for the committee.

Rep. Rodolfo Antonino, who had earlier vowed to block moves to approve the FOI unless his proposal to insert a Right of Reply provision is considered, effectively filibustered by raising procedural issues against the bill’s main proponent, Rep. Erin Tanada.

Antonino complained that Tanada, as chairman of the committee’s technical working group, had not included Antonino’s version with the Right of Reply provision in his consolidated bill. Tanada for his part said that he decided to have the mother committee discuss Antonino’s proposed provision because it would be too contentious to resolve in the technical working group level.

Antonino however kept raising the same objections throughout the committee hearing, and demanding an explanation from Tanada. As a result, Antonino did much of the talking during the hearing.

Antonino’s insistence caught the ire of several members of the committee, resulting in quite a few heated exchanges.

An irritated Rep. Walden Bello moved that the committee members vote on whether to adopt the consolidated version of the FOI bill, saying that Antonino was merely trying to delay the proceedings. “Mister Antonino has basically tried to stymie these proceedings,” Bello said.

The motion to put the bill to a vote was seconded by Rep. Rufus Rodriguez.

Antonino however made a motion of his own, this time to have the committee adjourn as it was already four in the afternoon. Antonino argued that the committee had run out of time to decide on the FOI since the House leadership had earlier ruled that all legislators must attend the four o clock sessions unless they have prior permission from the House leadership or the Ways and Means committee.

Evardone refused to act on Bello’s motion to put the FOI to a vote, saying there were still too many “contentious issues” that have to be ironed out, including Antonino’s Right of Reply provision, and another proposal by Rep. Pedro Romualdo to include private persons in the FOI bill.

Evardone instead ruled in favor of Antonino’s motion to adjourn the committee hearing, saying “I do not want to be a party to a violation of the House rules.”

Right to Know Right Now Coalition convenor Nepomuceno Malaluan said it was clear that the committee leadership was just playing around with the FOI. He said the coalition finds it suspicious that the FOI was calendared as the last bill to be discussed by the committee for the day, only to be met with procedural complaints by Antonino.

In fact, Malaluan said, none of the so-called contentious issues in the FOI bill were even discussed because Antonino’s complaints on procedural matters had taken up all of the committee’s time.

“The FOI is already as good as dead in the 15th Congress,” Malaluan sad. “We wanted the committee to make a decision today, but they made sure that the decision will not happen.”

Malaluan also pointed out that Antonino was merely repeating the same complaint that he had earlier made during the committee’s first hearing in March this year. Malaluan said Antonino’s complaint then had already been resolved by the committee, so there was no reason for the committee let Antonino “hijack” today’s hearing.

“This already speaks of the commitment of the chairman of the committee, and the ability of certain personalities, with the cooperation of the chairman, to stop the orderly deliberation of the bill,” Malaluan said.

“But the death of the FOI has several contributory factors,” Malaluan added. “Walang pwedeng maghugas ng kamay dito, including the leadership of the House, and including the positioning taken by Malacanang in this process.”

The statement of members of the Right to Know Right Now Coalition follows:

BAM  goes the Freedom of Information bill!

BATTERY, ASSAULT, and MURDER – this was what happened to the FOI bill today at the hearing of the Committee on Public Information of the House of Representatives.

The FOI bill is dead in the 15^th Congress.

By ensuring that no committee report will be approved in today’s hearing, the House Committee on Public Information has for all intents and purposes left no time for any FOI measure to get approved in the 15^th Congress.

Committee Chair Ben Evardone was the biggest disappointment of all.   His error: a dismal failure of leadership.

First, Evardone enrolled the FOI bill as the last of eight items on the committee’s agenda. When the committee finally discussed the FOI bill, Evardone next allowed Rep. Rodolfo Antonino to hijack most of the proceedings and perorate endlessly on how Antonino’s right of reply bill was not considered by the committee’s Technical Working Group (TWG) led by FOI proponent Rep. Erin Tanada.

In effect, Antonino made certain that the committee’s time was wasted on his redundant insistence on having his complaint heard. In truth, Antonino had already raised the very same issue at the last committee hearing in March. In fact, Antonino’s complaint was already resolved in that last hearing.

In the end the committee lost time to discuss any substantive issues on the FOI, particularly the contents of the bill.

And when a motion was made and seconded to put the consolidated bill to a vote, Antonino, who used up most of the committee’s time to complain about the TWG, promptly moved to adjourn the committee hearing, citing a technicality which was sustained by the committee chairman.

What happened today was just the final blow delivered by Evardone and Antonino, which left the rest of the committee members uncannily helpless to stop the slaughter of the FOI.

By all indications,  the conspiracy to kill the FOI bill had commenced much earlier.

President Benigno S. Aquino III led the battery and assault on FOI, with his mindless “concerns” about the bill. In January 2012, at the height of the Corona impeachment trial, he all too suddenly endorsed the bill, albeit in a few perfunctory press statements only. But in the next eight months, nothing more was heard from him by way of real proof of endorsement of the bill.

The President’s Liberal Party allies in the House, led by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Majority Leader Neptali Gonzalez III, did not move either. They neither pushed nor nudged the bill to fruition. Evardone did not call committee hearings until today.

The FOI bill is dead,  actually murdered on its tracks. Its butchers? The lackadaisical Evardone. The mindlessly perorating Antonino.  The President and his flaccid support.  Belmonte, Gonzalez, and the Liberal Party leaders of the House, by propping and blessing Evardone’s duplicity on the FOI bill.

Signed by:

Attorney Nepomuceno Malaluan

Institute for Freedom of Information

Co-convenor, Right to Know Right Now! Coalition

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ)

National Union of Journalists of the Philippines

Jenina Joy Chavez

Southeast Asia Monitor for Action

Clark Militante

Focus on the Global South

Mary Anne Manahan

Save Agrarian Reform Alliance

Attorney Eirene Aguila

Dr. Leah Paquiz

Ang Nars

Violeta Fernandez

Basic Education Sector Teachers Federation

Annie Enriquez Geron

Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK)

Jun Aguilar

Elso Cabangon

Filipino Migrant Workers Group

Joshua Mata

Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)

Reylynne dela Paz

Access to Information Network

ADVOCATES OF THE Freedom of Information (FOI) bill that has slumbered in Congress for the last 14 years came knocking on the doors of Malacanang Palace this afternoon,  Monday, as hundreds of members of the Right to Know Right Now network marched to Mendiola to remind the Palace of its commitment to push the pending measure through the legislative mill.

The coalition, composed of more than 150 media, cause oriented, and civil society groups, has been pressing Congress and Malacanang to speed up the passage of the FOI bill to allow ordinary citizens more access to official documents and transactions. The measure would also ensure greater transparency in government operations, as it penalizes efforts to hide official documents such as contracts, memoranda, and asset statements.

Unfortunately, the measure has again gotten stuck on a sandbar in the 15th Congress, despite claims by Malacanang that it has already endorsed the measure as one of President Benigno S. Aquino’s priority bills as early as January this year. Congress leaders say they have not acted on the measure because of mixed signals coming from Malacanang.

Coalition lead convenor Attorney Nepomuceno Malaluan said it was time that FOI advocates collect on the commitment made by President Aquino when he was still campaigning for the Presidency in 2010. Then Senator Aquino had said he would support the passage of an FOI measure in order to institutionalize transparency and accountability.

In today’s march, hundreds of FOI advocates from various groups walked from the University of Sto. Tomas along Espana to historic Mendiola bridge, the traditional entrance to Malacanang Palace. This, Malaluan said, was to serve as a reminder to the President that the people are still waiting for him to make good on his promise to have the FOI enacted by his allies in Congress.

YOU DON’T NEED TO BE a journalist to appreciate the need for a Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

This was the clear and resounding message delivered by 250 people, including port workers and balut vendors, who attended the FOI community assembly held in Manila’s Tondo district on Sunday, November 11.

The assembly was the third organized by the Right to Know Right Now Coalition, a network of 150 media, cause-oriented, and civil society groups that have been pushing for the passage of the long-delayed FOI bill in Congress.

The community events seek to enjoin people to discuss the issues surrounding the FOI, and how ordinary people can benefit from its passage into law.

The assembly was held at the covered court of Barangay 72 in Tondo. Manila, and was attended by workers from the Port of Manila, including stevedores and dock workers.

According to Emilio Manaois, president of the Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa ng Pantalan, the FOI Act is important to dock workers in light of proposals to privatize many of the country’s ports. Manaois said dock workers are concerned that they would lose their jobs if the privatization goes on full swing.

“If we were given sufficient information on the effects of these projects to our jobs, we should have at least prepared ourselves. Most of our members lost their jobs,” Manaois said in Filipino.

Other community leaders who expressed support for the FOI included Juliet Magdulot of the senior citizens of Tondo, and Beth Templado of the North Harbor Port Vendors Association.

Lawyer Nepomuceno Malaluan, co-convenor of the Right to Know. Right Now! Coalition, also briefed the participants on basic information in the FOI bill, and why the law should be the concern of all citizens, and not just journalists, researchers, and investigators.

“Hindi lahat ng government units at mga opisyal ng gobyerno ay bukas sa kanilang mga transaksyon at desisyon kaya importante ang FOI (Not all government units and government officials are open in their transactions and decisions, that’s why FOI is needed,” Malaluan said.

The participants also signed a graffiti wall to proclaim their support for the FOI bill. “There is no freedom if we are not provided information properly,” the graffiti stated.

A fourth community assembly is being scheduled later this month in Cagayan de Oro City.

A RADIO BROADCASTER from Cabanatuan City in Nueva Ecija province was shot dead while on his way to work Thursday, according to the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR).

Caesar Cauzo, a radio commentator of radio station DWJJ 684 Cabanatuan City was riding his motorcycle when he was shot three times by a motorcycle-riding gunman at 8:40 a.m. along Flowerlane Street, Cabanatuan City. Responding policemen rushed Cauzo to the nearest hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.

Cabanatuan City is located 115 kilometers northeast of Manila on the main island of Luzon.

CMFR, which monitors and reports cases of media murders and harassment, says that if Cauzo’s murder was work-related, it would be the fourth murder of a journalist this year, and the 11th during the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III. It would also be the second work-related killing in Nueva Ecija since the 2007 murder of radio reporter Carmelo Palacios.

Palacios’ body was found in Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija a day after he disappeared. Police have never been able to identify or apprehend any suspect in his murder.

A PCIJ documentary on Palacios’ murder

Almost all the media murder cases in the Philippines remain unsolved. In the few cases where police have been able to secure convictions, the suspects are often just hired gunmen. No murder mastermind has ever been arrested or convicted.

In Cauzo’s case, Cabanatuan police investigators said they had been unable to identify the gunmen. The black motorcycle used in the shooting also had no license plates, according to witnesses.

Investigators have not yet determined the motive behind Cauzo’s murder, although his colleagues in DWJJ say it may have something to do with his political advocacies.

Cauzo was reportedly pushing for the  approval of Cabanatuan City’s classification as a highly urbanized city (HUC), which some politicians and local groups have been opposing.

DWJJ is owned by the wife of Cabanatuan Mayor Julius Vergara, who is also in favor of Cabanatuan’s classification as an HUC, says CMFR.