Category: Access to Information

Democracy as a pot of food boiling, burning, half-cooked

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A NATION’S JOURNEY from repression to democratic restoration, and on to democratic consolidation, is never a single, straight path nor a simple daang matuwid.

There are, in fact, multiple roads to democratic transition, multiple paths strewn with trials reversals or even a series of missteps.

In truth, democratic transition could also be likened to “a pot of food that has been boiling in the stove, you smell it, it could be good or bad, it is food that someone has already cooked, it could be burning at the bottom or even not yet quite cooked.”

So, what next? “First thing you do is lower the heat, check for the missing ingredients, balance the flavor, see the role of the media, civil society, and all other stakeholders” to help cook it well.

Journalists from various countries who spoke at the keynote session of the Journalism Asia conference that opened today, Feb. 15, 2013, in Chiang Mai, Thailand, agree to the last that democratic transition is never a neat, smooth process.

There are, in truth, “different pathways to democratize,” said one speaker. The process unfolds sometimes as “a sequence of events,” or “sometimes a one-way street,” or sometimes as a combination of “the right boxes.”

One key element must be present though, he said: Greater or more media freedom fosters greater or more democratic rule. A positive development, too, is the emergence of social media
that “tends to have a democratizing effect in restricted democracies.”

Another speaker noted that democratic transition in Southeast Asia has become difficult “because no moral power,” including for instance, “no adherence to universal principles of human rights” nor understanding of the framework of human rights and democracy.

After transition, “discrimination continues” and “new forms of oppression” emerge. And while the situation “is no longer black and white… big swamps of gray, a morass of gray” remains in society.

Despite democratic revival in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Burma, the speaker noted “bigger splits have been created along religious lines, ethnic lines, expressed not just by governments but also by public” in some nations.

Yet a third speaker saw a problem with the fact that “no countervailing institution exists to check power, only the power of public opinion mediated by the press” in the post-transition nations of Southeast Asia.

Nonetheless, because politicians exercise power and get elected “mainly with the support and blessings of the media,” the post-transition milieu “amplifies the power of media way beyond its real power in a democratic context.”

As is happening in the former Soviet Union, in most of Southeast Asia today a picture of “old mafias” holds sway, the speaker said. “Mafias” from the military, religious groups “brandishing the bible” or lawyers “brandishing the Constitution,” and even the media, endure.

The hapless result is that “democracy might bring about the restoration of the old elite” in tandem with “the new centers of power.”

But “the most dangerous part” about “the media as a mafia,” according to the speaker, is that it has “its own romantic appeal, its own independent source of legitimacy, a power (drawn from) the glow or the afterglow of the democratic restoration.”

With its “fresh mandate to change things” after the transition to democracy, the media must be “prepared to assume that power” or the results could be “very scary.”

Yet a fourth speaker observed that the most delicate part of democratic transition is the process of consolidation.

“It’s a make-or-break process with no warranties, no guarantees of good results,” the speaker said. “New problems, new conflicts, new players emerge.” The process is assuredly often “messy and bloody.”

The “Journalism in Asia 2013″ forum is being organized by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility and the Southeast Asian Press Alliance. Journalists, academics, and civil-society representatives from the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Myanmar are participants.

Media & democracy in SEA: Beyond elections and form

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WHAT IS DEMOCRACY if it is largely form (i.e., elections) and not substance (i.e., development) to the citizens of Southeast Asia?

Indeed, what is the role of the media in democratic transition in Myanmar, Cambodia, and all of Southeast Asia?

Is there a connect between the press and citizenship in the reformed, reforming, and restricted “democracies” of the region?

Journalists in Southeast Asia gathered today in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for a two-day conference “Journalism in Asia 2013″ organized by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) and the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA).

The forum gathered journalists, academics, and civil society leaders from Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Myanmar.

CMFR Executive Director Melinda Quintos-de Jesus, who is also a member of the SEAPA Board of Trustees, noted that democratic transition has unfolded seemingly in six-year cycles in the region.

The process has been marked by the EDSA people power revolt in the Philippines in 1986, the democratization in Thailand in 1992, and reformasi in Indonesia in 1998.

The government of Cambodia partly relaxed media laws years later, while the military junta in Myanmar allowed opposition participation and the return of exiled journalists starting 2011.

But De Jesus said most discussions of democratic transition in the region have not stressed enough the role of the media in the process.

The forum thus seeks to identify and assess “the principal aspects of the experience, not as an event but as a process that does not quite submit to easy analysis, given the complexities of democratization,” she said.

Because transition unfolds in different, nuanced phases everywhere in the region, De Jesus said, “we are not presuming to teach anyone anything because every transition is different.” Even in the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia, she noted, democracy still remains “vulnerable to threats,” an incomplete process.

Some milestones have been achieved during the transition in democracies of the region “but not everyone has thought of the process or the role of the media in transition.” The forum aims, too, to understand the events in Myanmar and foster stronger appreciation of the difficulties of transition. Just as important, because “the media is by nature not introspective,” the forum also aims to review the role of the media in democratic transition.

However, “unless the public is responsible, and see their role in democratic development, we cannot have real democracy,” she said.

“Democracy can serve as more than just elections… which do not always result in freedom and equality for all citizens” or promote “the broad public interests of the common man and woman on the street.”

Amid the transition, too, nations in Southeast Asia have witnessed “continuing repression and violation of human rights,” and the masses “cut of” from access to capital and resources.

What is lamentable, she said, is that even with free speech and free press, the public discourse in the region has sometimes turned “banal,” marked by “confusion, lack of national dialogue and failure of national consensus.”

All these “failures” have rendered democracy as “not real to the citizens,” De Jesus averred. Democracy has been reduced to “only the external form, not the substance, not the principles or the practice.”

Given its power to help foster change and transition, the forum hopes also to locate the media’s role in democratic change, and “in creating citizenship.”

De Jesus said: “The only way to develop the press is for the press to see its role as intrinsically connected to citizenship, not just in principle but also in practice.”

The Southeast Asian Press Alliance is a network of independent media organizations in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
SEAPA also works with journalists’ organizations in Cambodia, Vietnam, Timor-Leste, Laos, and Myanmar.

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, the CMFR, the Alliance of Independent Journalists of Indonesia, the Thai Journalists Association, and the Center for Independent Journalism in Malaysia are SEAPA members.

PNoy gov’t failure to pass FOI bill on agenda at OGP meeting

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THE FAILURE of the Aquino administration to pass the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act in the last three years — contrary to its avowed commitment to the Barack Obama-led Open Government Partnership (OGP) project — is up for discussion this week by an OGP subcommittee.

A report posted Wednesday on the www.freedominfo.org website said an OGP subcommittee “is expected this week to discuss whether the OGP should signal its disappointment with the Philippines government for failing to pass freedom of information legislation.”

The report said the discussion was prompted by a recent request from Atty. Nepomuceno Malaluan, co-director of the Institute for Freedom of Information, and Toby Mendel, executive director of the Centre for Law and Democracy.

The request “poses a challenge to OGP officials, who have said that criticizing governments is not an OGP function,” FreedomInfo.org, the global network of FOI advocates said.

A similar situation had arisen in late 2011 when the OGP was asked to comment on the pending secrecy bill in South Africa. “The member governments of the OGP Steering Committee decided against making a statement, but the members from civil society wrote a joint letter expressing concerns about the controversial South African bill,” the report said.

The letter of the CSO representatives urged the South African government to listen to the civil society concerns and said passage would cast “a shadow” over South Africa’s participation in OGP.

“A broad South African civil society coalition, the Right2Know Coalition, had asked the OGP leadership to object to the bill, maintaining that the bill was inconsistent with South Africa’s participation in OGP, particularly as a founding member and Steering Committee member,” the letter stated.

The secrecy bill has been modified, although not entirely to critics’ satisfaction, and is expected to pass in the near future, FreedomInfo.org said.

In their letter to the OGP dated Feb. 8, 2013, Malaluan and Mendel averred the recent failure of Philippines Congress to pass a freedom of information law and expressed “the widespread view among FOI supporters in the Philippines that President Benigno Aquino failed to deliver on his campaign promise to pass a FOI law by being slow to propose a bill and failing to encourage legislative action.”

FreedomInfo.org cited that the OGP action plan that the Aquino government had submitted calls passage of a FOI bill as a “critical component” of its plan.

The Philippines government is a founding member of the OGP and together with the South African government, serves on the OGP Steering Committee.

“We sincerely hope that the OGP Steering Committee takes decisive action in response to this fact that the Philippines still does not have an RTI law,” said Malaluan. “If it does not, we believe that the credibility of the OGP will be at risk.”

According to Freedominfo.org, the OGP Governance and Leadership Subcommittee is likely to discuss the topic on a scheduled teleconference call this week in advance of an in-person meeting to be held next week in Jakarta, according to OGP officials.

Yet still, the report said “the likelihood of OGP comment is considered slight. Officials from OGP member countries have been reluctant to publicly criticize other countries. In addition, the OGP philosophy is geared toward encouraging participation and voluntary action.”

“Progress on action plans is to be self-assessed by governments and examined through an Independent Review Mechanism,” the report said.”The self-assessments by the Philippines government and the other seven founding members are due by the end of March. The selection of an independent reviewer for the Philippines and the other founding members is under way, with those reports due in October.”

Malaluan and Mendel noted in their letter that the OGP Article of Governance says that Steering Committee members should show “leadership by example for OGP in terms of domestic commitments.” They asked that the OGP “signal to the Government of the Philippines that its actions are not in accordance with the norms and expectations of the OGP.”

“The OGP has addressed what to do if countries consistently fail to fulfill their pledges over time, adopting a rule that subpar performance over three consecutive years could lead to suspension, FreedomInfo.org said.

The key provision of the Articles of Governance states:

“Should the IRM process find that a participating government repeatedly (for three consequent years) acts contrary to the OGP process and to its Action Plan commitments (Addenda B and C), fails to adequately address issues raised by the IRM, or is taking actions that undermine the values and principles of the OGP, the Steering Committee may upon recommendation of the Criteria and Standards (CS) Sub-committee review the participation of said government in OGP>”

FreedomInfo.org said another “unresolved internal OGP controversy” involves the Philippines: Which three member-countries should step off the Steering Committee to make room for new members.”

Norway has agreed to drop off, and both the Philippines and South Africa seemed the likely other two candidates, the report said.

However, it added that South Africa has balked and expressed “concerns about being it asked to volunteer to rotate off while the Philippines was being encouraged to remain on.”

“The Philippines had originally indicated a willingness to rotate off, but later changed its mind,” FreedomInfo said, citing sources.

The lead co-chair of the OGP, the United Kingdom, was said to be trying to resolve the situation.

OGP officials said the recent request to send a “signal” to the Philippines would likely come up at meeting of the Governance and Leadership Subcommittee.

The four members of the subcommittee are the representatives of the governments of Indonesia and the United Kingdom (chair), and of the International Budget Partnership and Twaweza.

Minutes of OGP subcommittee meetings are prepared and released. The most recent posted subcommittee minutes date to last September. Some can be found on the “Meeting & Minutes” page and others can be found under “related files” on the “Governance Staff and Donors” page.

The next OGP Steering Committee meeting is scheduled late April in London, FreedomInfo.org said.

Sloth, pride, and greed: Of FOI heroes and heels

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WHO OR WHAT killed the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill?

All voters would do well to know and remember as the May 2013 election campaign heats up, according to the latest pooled editorial of the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) that ran this week.

The PPI is the national organizations of over 120 newspapers and periodicals across the nation.

Yet, of course, deliberate delays, the chronic absenteeism of lawmakers, and the lack of firm support by President Aquino and his allies in the House of Representatives killed the bill in the 15th Congress

What follows is the full text of the last of four pooled editorials on the FOI bill that PPI members have published in the last four weeks:

Of FOI heroes and heels

A MACABRE murder it was. The victim, the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill, lay forlorn in the last nine session days of Congress in the last three weeks, until finally it died.

To stave off its death, the media and the citizens had cried for leadership and urgent rescue by President Aquino and his allies in the House of Representatives. He and they alone had both power and mandate to save it. But they turned a deaf ear to the citizens’ clamor. They defaulted on their duty to lead. By their inaction, they had willed to send the FOI bill to the legislative morgue.

On the tombstone for the FOI bill, the facts should be written in no uncertain terms: Killed by official sloth, pride, and greed. Killed by politicians who lie on their promises and shirk from their duty to the people.

On the same tombstone, too, it should be written: Championed to the last by the people of the Philippines.

Official sloth killed the FOI bill. It is evident in the deliberate delays, the President’s constantly changing big and small “concerns” about the bill, and the ineptitude and chronic lack of a quorum in the House, that have marked the steadily slow pace of legislative work on the bill.

Pride is evinced in their espousal of transparency according to their terms. Transparency, they say, has been served because they have dumped tons of unintelligible but static budget and public finance records online, even as they refuse to respond to public requests for more documents on the use of taxpayers’ money.

And greed, for power and privilege surely, is palpable in their scorn for the FOI bill as it could trigger the disclosure of the full facts of their wealth and how they fiddle with public funds to finance their pork and other perks. The FOI bill, some had admitted in candor, will only lend their political rivals information to censure and expose them.

The death of the FOI bill in the 15th Congress gives the lie to the claims of the Aquino administration that it is a government committed to trekking daang matuwid.

The FOI bill could have served as the bedrock and institutional framework of that straight, narrow path but its death leaves daang matuwid narrow, dark, and stuck in potholes. Without an FOI framework, daang matuwid remains for the most part a slogan in theory but not in practice, a PR line.

Just as important, the death of the FOI bill in the 15th Congress is a sad commentary on how much and how far the President and his House allies value their promises and their word. Or alternately, how they do not at all. As a candidate for President in May 2010, Aquino had sworn to accord the FOI bill top priority. Meanwhile in 2011, his House allies filed suit to impeach, convict, and oust a chief justice, for his failure to disclose the true and full details of his wealth.

With his less than tepid verbal endorsement for the FOI bill, the President seems to be telling the nation that words are to a politician cheap, and promises, mere sound bytes a candidate mouths to get elected.

As for his House allies, the death of the FOI bill is proof that transparency and accountability is a razor-sharp sword they wield but only against political foes, never against themselves. To this day, in fact, Aquino’s House allies have refused to allow the chamber’s secretary general to release to the media and the citizens copies of all the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth of all House members, as she is authorized in law to do, without need for approval of individual lawmakers.

Without an FOI framework, daang matuwid will constantly be hobbled by official sloth, pride, and greed. It is regretful that even now, as the election campaign heats up, the political opposition has mounted yet another PR spin they call daang maganda. But whether it is matuwid or maganda, a road not lit by the transparency and accountability that an FOI law assures in theory and practice, will simply remain a vicious, not virtuous, path at all.

The Constitution, from 26 years ago, has firmly guaranteed the citizens’ right to information on matters vested with public interest and involving use of public funds. The Constitution, from 26 years ago, has also enshrined transparency and accountability as state policies.

Under the same Constitution by which they took their oath of office and swore to serve, it is the solemn duty and obligation of the President and his House allies to pass the FOI bill into law. They have chosen instead to be painted as the heels in the murder of the FOI bill in the 15th Congress.

Yet still, under the same Constitution, the people of the Philippines continue to labor and campaign for the FOI bill. In their practice and advocacy, they are the true heroes of transparency, accountability, and good governance.

It is election campaign season. All voters would do well to remember who or what killed the FOI bill.

FOI: Mag-Ingat sa Hindi Tunay

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THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (FOI) bill is dead in the 15th Congress.

What follows is the full statement of the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition signed by over 160 organizations and civil-society leaders on the failure of President Aquino and his Liberal Party allies in the House of Representatives to pass the bill.

TODAY, we close our people’s campaign for the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill in the 15th Congress. We have, to the extent that our capacities and limited resources permitted, exhausted all avenues that we thought were open to us to get positive, decisive action from the leaders of the House of Representatives and from President Aquino no less.

Yet they turned a deaf ear to our summons for leadership. Instead they caved in to their fears of an informed and empowered people. They gave us the lie to their avowed claims of transparency and good governance.

The campaign committed one big error – we had thought, in all earnestness, that the passage of the FOI law in the 15th Congress would have the support of President Aquino. Three years ago he had promised he would accord the bill top priority. Our sad lesson: Words are to candidates cheap, and Presidents lie, indeed.

Instead of giving the FOI Bill priority, Aquino hobbled the campaign from the beginning with his variably petty and serious mutating concerns about the FOI Bill. Our reaction was to address these concerns and to engage his Study Group after it was belatedly created.

When finally he endorsed the work of the Study Group in January 2012, at the height of the Corona impeachment trial, we thought the tide had changed. We were wrong again. Nothing would be heard from him since in support of the measure, except, ironically a left-field endorsement of the Right of Reply clause in a November 2012 speech. This no doubt affirmed and emboldened the obstructionist proponents of a patently unconstitutional Right of Reply rider to the FOI Bill at the House of Representatives.

Taking cue that the measure did not really enjoy Aquino’s full support, the House assured the death of the FOI bill by deliberate inaction. Committee on Public Information Chairman Rep. Ben Evardone, who had jumped ship from the Lakas-Kampi party of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to join Aquino’s Liberal Party, simply delayed and cancelled committee hearings on the bill on and on. When finally the committee members forced the vote to send the bill to plenary, two more Lakas-Kampi turncoats to LP holding the highest positions in the House – Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II – made sure the FOI bill will not get off the ground.

Unto the FOI Bill’s dying moments in the last nine session days of Congress, we appealed to President Aquino to certify the passage of the FOI bill as an urgent measure. His response, given through his spokespersons was curt — he wants to see a “healthy debate” on the FOI bill in the House.

It was an insult to say the least. It was as if the President was clueless about how the triumvirate of Evardone, Belmonte, and Gonzales had made sure that absolutely no debate would happen on the FOI Bill whether in committee or in plenary. And rather than taking the trio to task, the President, national chairman of the Liberal Party, even rewarded Evardone for his lackluster work, by installing the latter as a spokesperson of the administration’s hodgepodge of an electoral coalition.

And so the FOI Bill dies again in the 15th Congress under Aquino, as it did in the 14th Congress under Arroyo. But a startling point of contrast must be made, too. The FOI Bill had advanced even much farther in Arroyo’s time when it came just one step away from signing into law. In Aquino’s time, it did not take off at all in the House.

Where does the FOI campaign go from here?

The people’s movement for FOI will push on anywhere and everywhere, despite or in spite of Aquino and his allies. Rights, after all, are never served on a silver platter. Fight for our rights we must, and we will.

In the 16th Congress we commit to persevere even more. By the power of our own will and by the numbers of our people, we will heighten our demand to get our FOI Act.

We know this to be true: The FOI Bill did not pass in the 15th Congress because Aquino and the House of Representatives failed us. But the success story in our campaign for the FOI Bill’s passage into law is writ large in the ever-growing movement for the passage of the FOI Bill that has united nearly all sectors of Philippine society. They include workers and businessmen, the youth and students, the media and netizens, the churches, the civil servants, professors and school officials, migrant workers and their families, and a whole range of civil society organizations across the nation.

They exclude, of course, Aquino, his allies, and politicians of all stripes who seem truly scared that their secrets and shenanigans will be exposed by an empowering transparency tool that an FOI Act will be.

Today we do not bury the FOI Billl. Instead we keep it alive and recommit ourselves to push it in the 16th Congress – despite or in spite of Aquino and his allies. With greater vigor we will keep the FOI bill alive on the streets, across all media platforms, and wherever else local communities can set it in motion, through a more determined push for legislation, and also by practice.

Today we bury instead the legacy of ineptitude of the House of Representatives of the 15th Congress, and the falsity of Aquino’s promise as a candidate that he will see to the immediate passage of the FOI Act. Today, we stop hoping and appealing for Aquino to help push the FOI Bill in the 16th Congress. By all indications, he supports reform bills that also the donor community, investors, and credit ratings outfits favor. On the FOI Bill, he equivocates ceaselessly.

We take this opportunity to thank all the sectors and citizens who championed and stood up for the passage of the FOI in the 14th and 15th Congresses, despite the odds. The Senate, as an institution, has delivered not once, but twice, and there is no reason to doubt that it will again deliver in the 16th Congress.

We make special mention of Sen. Gregorio Honasan II, who made good on his commitment to work for the FOI Bill’s passage in the Senate in the 15th Congress as committee chairman, and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who did the same in the 14th Congress. We note that in both instances, the FOI Bill passed in the Senate under Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.

At the House, while an unresponsive leadership and an indifferent majority killed the FOI bill a second time, a handful stood their ground — Deputy Speaker Erin Tañada of Quezon, Rep. Teddy Baguilat of Ifugao, Representatives Walden Bello and Kaka Bag-ao of Akbayan Party List, and Representatives Sherwin Tugna and Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales of CIBAC Party List.

We also note that the 14th Congress’ Committee on Public Information Chairman Benny Abante of Manila has kept alive his advocacy for the FOI bill, in his private capacity. We acknowledge the emerging supporters in the House, such as Rep. Emmeline Aglipay of Diwa Party List, and commit to work with them to expand the group of FOI champions in the 16th Congress.

In the Executive, we thank Justice Secretary Leila De Lima for being the one and only Aquino Cabinet member to publicly stand up for the passage of the FOI Bill in her speech before the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC). Indeed she was a breath of fresh air amid the asphyxiating “it is up to Congress; we want a healthy debate” line of President Aquino and his spokespersons.

The people’s movement for FOI lives on. We will never relent in our efforts to demand an open, honest, accountable, and transparent government that we all deserve.

In time, we will claim our victory.

Signed:

Nepomuceno Malaluan, Co-Director, Institute for Freedom of Information and Co-Convenor, Right to Know. Right Now! Coalition
Bishop Broderick S. Pabillo, DD, Chairman, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines – National Secretariat for Social Action-Justice and Peace (CBCP-NASSA)
Malou Mangahas, Executive Director, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
Florangel Rosario-Braid, President Emeritus & Senior Adviser, Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication
Annie Geron, General Secretary, Public Services Labor Independent Confederation (PSLINK)
Josua Mata, Secretary General, Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)
Clarissa V. Militante, Coordinator, Focus on the Global South, Philippines Programme
Rowena Paraan, Secretary-General, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines
Vincent Lazatin, Executive Director, Transparency and Accountability Network
Luis Teodoro, Deputy Director, Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility
Leonor M. Briones, Lead Covenor, Social Watch Philippines and Chairperson, KAAKBAY Party List
Yuen Abana, Campaign Coordinator, Partido ng Manggagawa
Jun Aguilar, Filipino Migrant Workers Group
Elso Cabangon, Filipino Migrant Workers Group
Ramon R. Tuazon, President, Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication
Madeline B. Quiamco, Dean, Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication
Alwyn Alburo, Vice Chairman, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines
Eirene Jhone Aguila, FOI and New Politics Advocate
Jenina Joy Chavez, Southeast Asia Monitor for Action
Corazon Valdez Fabros, Lead Convenor, Stop the War Coalition Philippines
Ana Maria R. Nemenzo, National Coordinator, WomanHealth Philippines
Isagani R. Serrano, President, Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement
Gerry Rivera, Pangulo, Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA)
Rolando Ocampo, Spokesperson, Prudentialife Warriors/Movement for Change and Good Governance
Red Batario, Executive Director, Center for Community Journalism and Development
G. Sevilla Alvarez, Program Director, Center for Community Journalism and Development
Mae Paner (Juana Change), Juana Change Movement
Mr. Ernie Ordoñez, Chairperson, Alyansa Agrikultura
Norman Cabrera, Secretary General, Ang Kapatiran Party
Joseph Anthony Lim, Professor, Economics Department, Ateneo De Manila University
Flordeliz L. Abanto, Broadcast Journalism Coordinator, St. Scholastica’s College, Manila
Nicole Curato, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, UP Diliman
Alma Maria O. Salvador, Department of Political Science, Ateneo de Manila University
Carmel Abao, Department of Political Science, Ateneo De Manila University
Marivic Raquiza, Assistant Professor, UP-NCPAG
Joy Aceron, Program Director, Government Watch/ PODER, Ateneo School of Government
Dante G. Simbulan, Jr. Professor, De La Salle Health Science Institute
Anne Lan Candelaria, Department of Political Science, Ateneo de Manila University
Romeo Royandoyan, Centro Saka
Ric Reyes, President, Freedom from Debt Coalition
Lidy Nacpil, Regional Coordinator, Jubilee South – Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development (JS APMMD)
Cielo Magno, Executive Director, Bantay Kita
John Carlos G. de los Reyes, Candidate for Senator (2013), Ang Kapatiran Party
Rizalito Y. David, Candidate for Senator (2013), Ang Kapatiran Party
Joseph Purugganan, Coordinator, EU-ASEAN FTA Network
Carlo Brolagda, Chairperson, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy Student Council (CSSPSC), UP Diliman and Convenor, FOI Youth Initiative (FYI)
Chris Alquizalas, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy Student Council (CSSPSC), UP Diliman and Convenor, FOI Youth Initiative (FYI)
Viko Fumar, President, BUKLOD CSSP, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines – Diliman
Joseph Angelo Gutierrez, Chairperson, Movement of Students for Progressive Leadership in UP (MOVE UP), University of the Philippines – Los Baños
Ace Ligsay, Chairperson, UP Alyansa ng mga Mag-aaral para sa Panlipunang Katwiran at Kaunlaran (UP ALYANSA), University of the Philippines – Diliman
JC Tejano, National Chairperson, Bukluran ng mga Progresibong Iskolar – UP System (BUKLURAN – UP SYSTEM), University of the Philippines System
Tristan Daine Zinampan, Chairperson, Linking Everyone Towards Service CDC (LETS CDC), College of Development Communication, University of the Philippines – Los Baños
Joshua Lorenzo Layog, Primer, Katipunan CHE, College of Human Ecology, University of the Philippines – Los Baños
April Lamentillo, Supremo, Sandigan ng mga Iskolar para sa Nagkakaisang CAS (SINAG CAS), College of Arts and Sciences, University of the Philippines – Los Baños
Deg Daupan, President, Alternatibong Katipunan ng mga Mag-aaral (AKMA), University of the Philippines – Baguio
Joshua Young, Chairperson, Bigkis ng mga Iskolar Para sa Bayan Tungo sa Makabuluhang Pagbabago – UPM (BIGKIS-UPM), University of the Philippines – Manila
Edward Dayog, President, UP Organization of Human Rights Advocates (OHRA), University of the Philippines – Diliman
Mickey Eva, President, Coalition for Students’ Rights and Welfare (STRAW Coalition)
John Mark Salvador, President, Bagong Benilde, De La Salle – College of Saint Benilde
Curt Russel Lopez Delfin, President, Metro Manila Alliance of Communication Students (MACS)
Marlon Cornelio, National Chaiperson, Akbayan Youth
Melba Tampakan, National Chairperson, Alliance of Progressive Labor – Youth (APL Youth)
Marian Bahalla, Chairperson, Laban COC Party, College of Communication, Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Arjay Mercado, President, UP Economics Towards Consciousness (ETC), University of the Philippines – Diliman
Gio Alejo, President, Sanggunian ng mga Paaralang Loyola ng Ateneo de Manila, Ateneo de Manila University
Moses Albiento, Chairperson, Alliance of Student Leaders (ASL), Ateneo de Manila University
Benedict Nisperos, President, Law Student Government (LSG), College of Law, University of the Philippines – Diliman
Walter Tamayo, History Department Representative, AngKAS (CSSP History Department Core Group), University of the Philippines – Diliman
Ernest Calayag, Secretary General, Student Council Alliance of the Philippines (SCAP)
Nico Ibaviosa, President, UP Alliance for Responsive Involvement and Student Empowerment (ARISE), College of Engineering, University of the Philippines – Diliman
Gibby Gorres, Executive Director, Center for Youth Advocacy and Networking (CYAN)
Ara Tan, President, UP Kalipunan ng mga Mag-aaral ng Sosyolohiya (KMS), University of the Philippines – Diliman
Serge Aclan, Chairperson, College of Allied Medical Professions Student Council (CAMPSC), University of the Philippines – Manila
Jason Alacapa, Chairperson, University Student Council (UPM USC), University of the Philippines – Manila
Marjorie Anne Yoro, Suprema, UP Kabataang Pilosopo Tasyo (KaPiTas), University of the Philippines – Diliman
Karla Mae de Leon, Suprema, UP Kalipunan para sa Agham Panlipunan at Pilosopiyang Pilipino (UP KAPPP), University of the Philippines – Diliman
Luisa Lioanag, Bos Tsip-Tsip, UP Bukluran sa Sikolohiyang Pilipino (Buklod-Isip), University of the Philippines – Diliman
Patricza Torio, Tagapangulo, UP Lipunang Pangkasaysayan (LIKAS), University of the Philippines – Diliman
Paulina Miranda, Chairperson, College of Education Student Council (CESC), University of the Philippines – Diliman
Joni Dumasig, President, Union of Progressive Students (UPS), University of the Philippines – Cebu
Fred Omalza, President, People United to Lead, Obey, and Serve (PULOS), University of the Philippines – Mindanao
Ema Escanilla, Speaker, UP People-Oriented Leadership in the Interest of Community Awareness (UP POLITICA), University of the Philippines – Diliman
Van Battad, President, UP Sirkulo ng mga Kabataang Artista (SIKAT), University of the Philippines – Diliman
Heart Diño, Chairperson, University Student Council (UPD USC), University of the Philippines – Diliman
Robin Charles Ramos, President, Cor Jesu Association of Graduate Students (CJAGS), Cor Jesu College, Digos City, Davao del Sur
Juan Paulo Oreta Rodriguez, Executive Board / Federation Chairman, Barkadahang San Joseño, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan
Leo Christian Lauzon, Chairperson, Youth Against Debt (YAD) Eastern Visayas
Jennifer Julia Lacaba, President, Animal Concerns and Awareness Club (AC2), University of the Philippines – Visayas Tacloban College
Princess Kimberly Ubay-ubay, President, School of Business and Management Student Council (SBMSC), Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan, Cagayan de Oro City
Frezalva Vir Burce, Program Coordinator / Child Protection Officer, Children International – Child Sponsorship for Community Development Inc. (CSCDI), Tabaco City, Albay
Roy Dahildahil, Chairperson, Partido sang Mainuswagon nga Bumulutho (PMB), University of the Philippines – Visayas, Miagao, Iloilo
Glosuvel Requina, President, Council of Maritime Leaders (CML), University of Cebu – Maritime Education and Training Center, Cebu City
Cedrick Sagun, President, UST Political Science Forum (UST-TPSF), University of Santo Tomas – Manila
Dawn Po Quimque, President, College of Communication Student Council (COC-SC), Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Jonah Elaine Abubakar, President, School of Business and Management (SBM) – Business Economics Society (BES), Universidad de Zamboanga, Zamboanga City
Michael Villamor, President, Supreme Student Government – Northern Cebu Colleges, Bogo City, Cebu
Danise Talaba, President, Team Communication (TeamComm), De La Salle University – Manila
Xander Losaria, OIC / Secretary General, SENTRO – La Salle, De La Salle University – Dasmariñas
Jem Francelle Sanico, Chairperson, Samahan ng mga Mag-aaral para sa Alternatibong Reporma at Pagbabago (SAMAR Party), University of Eastern Philippines, Northern Samar
Charisse Marie Catama, Student Regent, University of Eastern Philippines, Northern Samar
Marlon Padua, Vice President for Non-Academics, STI Student Council, STI College – Southwoods, Carmona, Cavite
Anne Lorraine Garcia, Most Idyllic Sister, UP Sigma Beta Sorority, University of the Philippines – Diliman
Jana Cabuhat, President, University Student Government (DLSU USG), De La Salle University – Manila
Allenia Nia Chua, Vice President, Youth Aids Filipinas Alliance (YAFA), University of the Philippines – Visayas Tacloban College
Arisa Bajana, Lord Chancellor, Vox La Salle Debate Society, De La Salle University – Dasmariñas
Renier Louie Bona, Youth Representative, TLF – Sexuality, Health, and Rights Educators (TLF-SHARE) Collective, Inc.
Gab Andres, President, Alyansang Tapat sa Lasallista (TAPAT), De La Salle University – Manila
Kelvin Tagnipez, Chairperson, School of Economics Student Council (SESC), University of the Philippines – Diliman
John Tobit Cruz, President, Angat Kabataan, Taytay, Rizal
Migs Angeles, Secretary General, Akbayan Youth – UPD, University of the Philippines – Diliman
Khim Joseph Naval, President, Association of Political Science Students, University of Nueva Caceres, Naga City, Camarines Sur
Paolo Martin Saberon, Executive Director, Cebuano Youth Ambassadors
Starjoan Villanueva, Executive Director, Alternate Forum for Research in Mindanao
Marwil Llasos, Candidate for Senator (2013), Ang Kapatiran Party
Carlos Cabochan, Candidate for Representative, 2nd District of Caloocan City (2013), Ang Kapatiran Party
Harry Tambuatco, Candidate for Representative, Lone district of Muntinlupa city (2013), Ang Kapatiran Party
Edilberto M. Cuenca, Candidate for Representative, 1st District of Makati City (2013), Ang Kapatiran Party
Mr. Frank Reyes, Candidate for Representative, Lone District of Mandaluyong City (2013), Ang Kapatiran Party
Bong Fabe, Freelance journalist
Aurora Regalado, Lead Convenor, Rice Watch and Action Network
Pablo Rosales, Pangulo, Progresibong Alyansa ng mga Mangingisda (PANGISDA)
Boy Alban, Pangulo, League of Urban Poor for Action (LUPA)
Jun Pascua, National Coordinator, Pambansang Katipunan ng Makabayang Magbubukid (PKMM)
Relito Arisgado, Pangulo, Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Maralita ng Malabon
Elvira Baladad, Samahang 53 nd Macabud
Trinidad Domingo, Spokesperson, Save Agrarian Reform Alliance
Merci Llarinas Angeles, Executive Director, Peace Women Partners
Arvin A. Jo, Focal Person, The Access Initiative (TAI)-Philippines
Baibonn D. Sangid, Former Chairperson, Young Moro Professionals Network
Gloria Santos, President, Kilusan at Ugnayan ng Maralitang Pasigueño (KUMPAS)
Janel Pesons, Secretary General, Mindanao People’s Peace Movement (MPPM)
Roy Jerusalem Cabonegro, Secretary General, GREENS PH (Philippine Green Party/ Partido Kalikasan) and Executive Director, Partido.Kalikasan (Greens PH) Institute Inc.
Ren Bondad, Sanlakas Youth
Alex Castro, KAISA-UP Diliman
Ronald Salas, Social Action Center, Maasin, Southern Leyte
Rafaela David, Good Governance Advocate
Hermie Oraya, Provincial Coordinator, Youth for Rights, Eastern Samar
Ronald Allan Barnacha, Chairperson, PRRM Nueva Viscaya
Roldan Gonzales, Executive Director, Gitib
Datu Jimboy Catawanan, President, SOLED-Ki
Chadwick Llanos, Focal Person, Cebu Alliance for Safe and Sustainable Environment
Grace Villanueva, Executive Director, Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC)
Mai Taqueban, Deputy Director for Research and Policy Development, Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC)
Manjette Lopez, President, Sanlakas Party List
Rasti Delizo, Alliance Coordinator, Sanlakas Party List
Philip Adula, Coordinator, Sanlakas, Eastern Samar
Jefferson Agaloos, Chairperson, Philippine Rural Reconstruction Youth Association
Evelyn Lacambra, President, CLAIM Lallo
Tanie S. Suaño, Executive Director, Convergence of NGOs/POs in ZAmboanga del Sur on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development
Carmencita Andoy, Environmental Awareness Team, Misamis Occidental
Mary Ann V. Fuertes, Executive Director, Interface Development Interventions (IDIS), Davao City
Strauss Fernandez, Executive Secretary, RECON Philippines
Jean Enriquez, Executive Director, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-Asia Pacific
Benito Molino, Chairperson, Concerned Citizens of Sta. Cruz (CCOS-Zambales)
Jose Melvin Lamanilao, Executive Director, Paglilingkod Batas Pangkapatiran Foundation, Inc.
Jaybee Garganera, Coordinator, Alyansa Tigil Mina