Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill Flaw

Many have dubbed the Philippines as one big political circus; The crowd intensely watching as politicians jump through rings of fire and bravely sticking their heads in lions’ mouths, only to discover that everything is just as phony as the next act. Ranked 94 out of 177 countries in the 2013 survey conducted by Transparency International, the Philippines clearly has not learned to outgrow its circus act.

President Benigno Aquino III launched his 2010 presidential campaign with a very promising platform of government transparency and anti-corruption initiatives. He even headed it with a reassuring slogan of, “Kung Walang Corrupt, Walang Mahirap.” But unlike most fairytales, the Philippines has not received their happy ending - time and time again. Aquino greatly urged for the passing of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill at the start of his administration 4 years ago, a bill that allows the public to peer into government records. Although a forefront of the Aquino anti-corruption campaign, the bill still has not seen the light of day as the president and the House of Representatives do not recognize the urgency of its passing and instead, engage in circumspect debates. With the long delay of delivery, it looks as if the high-wire acts of the Aquino administration have begun to falter and forsake those who had put their utmost trust in them.

Atty. Mel Sta. Maria, a resident legal analyst of TV5 and an active educator in the FEU Institute of Law, highlighted certain discrepancies in the bill that does not provide any realistic solution. Sufficiently stated in Section 7, subparagraph F:

“The information requested pertains to the personal information of a natural person other than the requesting party, and its disclosure would constitute an unwarranted invasion of his or her personal privacy, unless it forms part of a public record, or the person is or was an official of a government agency and the information relates to his other public function of the person has consented, in writing, to the disclosure of the information.”

What is presented in this single clause completely contradicts the essence of the FOI bill in its entirety. While the bill ideally pushes for the overall transparency of the government, the flawed statement only gives access to public records; information that should be easily reached by anyone in a typically accountable government. It then becomes a given right of the people to have a perfectly sound and justifiable FOI bill passed in order to see through the actions and steps that the government is taking so that everyone can move in the same cohesive direction. As reiterated in the statement released by the Supreme Court,

“The private life of an employee cannot be segregated from his public life. Dishonesty inevitably reflects on the fitness of the officer or employee to continue in office and the discipline and morale of the service.” 

Moreover, with a total of 24 different version of the FOI bill, suspicions have been raised of the failure of the Aquino administration to swiftly act on important matters at hand, especially one that is closely tied to the initial promises of the president at the beginning of his term. Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma has been on the defense of the administration insisting that much has been done to preserve the integrity of the platform of Aquino where solutions have been said to be, “already fulfilled in actual government practice.”

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who is recently popularized by wildfire media on the worldwide web due to her very candid remarks, calls for clamor among the general public while specifically pleading netizens to continue to put much-needed pressure on the government to immediately act on the passing of the FOI bill. Santiago, along with Sen. Grace Poe, had tirelessly worked on the availability of information on the total income of high government officials on the internet to initiate a form of better transparency that would possibly help fuel other future efforts such as the FOI bill. But to much dismay, a lackadaisical approach on any form of implementation of the bill has instead been visible in government actions.

With many promises made and little kept, the President Aquino is under a great deal of scrutiny regarding the shadowy direction his administration seems to be headed towards. At a time where instances of grave cases of corruption are slowly being surfaced, it is necessary for the country to be fed with the kind of transparency and accountability of its leaders that it so greatly deserves. The evident lack of urgency and concern from the current administration’s end looks as though it requires the kind of push that ironically needs a sense of people power to churn out effective results.

Appointment of Lina Castillo-Sarmiento: “An Insult To The Victims of Martial Law”

The streets of Malacañang have been riddled with cries for justice that echo through from the dark days of Martial Law. It was as if the cold blood of those who had fallen to the Marcos regime had coursed through the indignant citizens of today, turning it into steam that tries to rectify the seemingly yellow-riddled irony of the government.

The Marcos regime proved to be covered in controversy, most of which were not completely revealed to the public. In fact, the ruling of Martial Law is said to involve some of the most heinous and gruesome abuses of human rights. Today, many of those who had fallen to these unfortunate events have not been properly compensated and cared for by the government. To add to the already painful blow, President Benigno Aquino III had made the decision to appoint police general Lina Castillo-Sarmiento as chairperson of the Martial Law Victims Claims Board. Contentiously linked to the Philippine Constabulary, a body that is notoriously linked to some of the gravest abuses of human rights during the time of Martial Law, Sarmiento stands in a pool of controversy that many have openly called out. This has roused a great deal of anger and hostility amongst certain members of the government and many antagonized citizens. The mere decision of President Aquino to appoint someone from a group that is very well known as human rights violators sends out a completely wrong message to those who had been victimized and also somehow lionizes the victimizers.

Sarmiento also lacks sufficient proof of proper qualifications as head of the Law Victims Claims Board. Having joined the police force in 1980, and even having headed Human Rights Affair Office (HRAO) later on, many questions still remain unanswered as to concrete actions Sarmiento has ever taken to further anything towards the direction of human rights.

Aside from the retired police general being heavily unqualified for the position, cries from the petitioners have repeatedly been voiced out to Aquino and his government. Former Bayan Muna Representative, Rep. Satur Ocampo, was one of the petitioners that made sure his thoughts were clearly voiced out. Rep. Ocampo, along with members of the Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detention at Aresto (SELDA), had filed a petition for certiorari at the Supreme Court in order to intensify their grief towards the questionable decision of Aquino to place Sarmiento in command.

The petition stated, “By appointing a former police general to head the Human Rights Claims Board, the President is practically exonerating the entire system that perpetrated the abuses, justified their occurrence, and concealed them with a veneer of impunity.” The petition continued to highlight the lack of qualification of the retired police general including the idea that when she headed the HRAO she, “became part of the machinery, which ‘attempted to deodorize the stench of the internationally condemned cases of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances.”

Sarmiento has also been continually grilled for wrongfully handling the Renante Romagus case, a farmer who was allegedly stabbed, tortured and left dead in the area of the Compostela Valley province. Sarmiento, instead of furthering the investigation, dismissed these actions and completely blamed the victim for not being able to provide sufficient evidence to defend his case.

Sarmiento has also been known to have meddled with certain scandalous affairs of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The extra-judicial killings and numerous disappearances that were said to have occurred during the Arroyo administration have often been brushed off and Sarmiento boldly defended the president and exonerated her actions.

The administration of President Benigno Aquino III seems to have followed in the footsteps of his infamous predecessors by not being able to properly address the situation, one that unfolds as an irony to what his late father, Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. was morally against. Although President Aquino always tried to be about positive change and the nationwide clamor for it, his choice of leadership for the compensation board and lack of care and justice for the victims of Martial Law, has pushed them further behind in any sign of progress moving forward.

With an overwhelming count of about 10,000 people who were regrettably victimized by the apparent abuses of Martial Law, many today continue to feel the waves of pain and suffering those dark times have brought about. The fight for justice continues as more and more are exposed to the tragic occurrences and the unfortunate failure of the current government to dispense appropriate action and heal the wounds of the past. As Rep. Satur Ocampo had fittingly stated, “We want to mark it in our history that never again shall we allow perpetrators of human rights violations go unpunished. Letting a Martial Law relic head the Human Rights Victims Claims Board is a betrayal of that purpose.”