MANII.A.

PHITIPPINES I 6 FEBRUARY 2OI9

Opaque
.,

rs passe
Come May, voters should make their stand against tfte
-
55^ enemies of fuanspaxency in both chambers of Congess,
r!" - . oarticularlv those in the House of Representatives who are
urulennmtng' makins it hard to access the Statements ofAssets, Uabilities
y 'y . , ana Udt Worttr 1Sel9 of elected larmakers.
the steted House Resolution i46? is revolting, to say the least, as
t"o' :o-y: it claimed the cdngtessmen's move to put roadblocks on
reaotuuon' the access to the financial doquments was 'consistentwith
ylll oolu,-
the right of the people to information of matters of public
ldppen
tl a- u.".ri to-SAIN of House Memben, officials a'nd
logtatator .
"or,""ior.
emnlovees shatl be afforded the citizens subject to the
abwles
limitations and uohibitions of the Constitution, existing laws
runs olJ-ana.,
Ytrn antl iurismudence,'
peoprc'g
tne
Tire resolution is definite proof that the Fleedom of
nu'nev'
. Information (FoI) will never hurdle the House due to
the resistance of legislators whose biggest fea.r is public
accountabilitY.
President Rody Duterte showed the way by issuing
i E (ecutive Order (E0) 2 that mandated FoI which, however,
' encompasses only Rody's branch of government'
He made }nown his position on transpa.rency to Congrcss
ea.rly on by encouraging the passage ofthe FoI
-
fiius, it"is aisappointing that in$ead ofheeding Rody House '
members a.re stonewalling against the trarspa'rency trend'
Hypocritical was the resolution's claim that 'Itte Ilousg
has ihe inherent power to regulate access by the public to
personal documents such as SALN in order to avoid damage
to or loss of the recortls and to prevent undue interderence
with the duties of the custodian.'
' ' The measure goes on with tlie assumption that 'Ilte
infor.matioir in the $AIN of its memlero may be used'to
render them and members of their family vulnerable to
threats of life and security, influence the action of
the llouse or its committees and, consequently, -d-4
independence of the lesislativffiffi
il;ff#I"rn.
', peen-rr, ,Ve'vf P/\c€ PLE.--a
(r)
 The undermining, as was the stated
fear in the resolution, will onty happen
if a legislator abuses and runs off with
the people's money.
House members who pretend to be
on the side of Rody expose their true
selves since the move is totally opposed
to the determination of the Duterte
administration to expose irregularities.
Rody in his speeches would advise
the public to approach
him directly regaxding
ofr icials.who abuse their
positions, promising
tha.t he would slap them
in public.
The SALN is also
the document that
spured the removal of "big fishes," including, recently
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who was lined up for
irnpeachment before she was ousted througlr a qn wa,rranlo
petition of the Solicitor General. The Supreme Court ruled
in favor of the petition resulting in Sereno,s removal.
The chief complaint against the ousted
tt,...^ magistrate was her failure to provide
,,:::^,-,,_ _ complete ${LN during rhe period she worked
aasaDftoantana
thai in*t"oa" wm
govemment.
of heedini Her predecessor Renato Corona was also
iodu, ttoluse impeached and later on ousted, albejt on
mznbets a.re questionable circumstances, based on Article
stonewalling 2 of the complaint, which was his failure to
the
against fully disclose his assets in his SALN.
tranq)arencq The resolution goes against the bounds of
trend'. lo$c and decency in the House, causing the
removal of a high official with the use ofthe public document
which it is now trying to restrict.
Rody was forthright about trarsparency which was a
disposition he made plain in the FoI EO, which was signed
'almost the moment he stepped into Malaca,fla,ng.
He also enunciaied his transpareney policy in his inaugural
speech when he stated that 'labhor secrecy and instead
advocate transparency in all government contracts, projects
and business transactions from submission 0f proposals to
negotiation t0 perfection and, finally, to consummation.'
The FoI bill always makes it through the Senate, but
gathers cobwebs at the House year a.fter year. Always.
The \pocritical administration of President Noynoy
Aquino which assumed power on a pledge of good govemance
was a perennial obstacle to the passing ofthe FoI bill which
is a demeanor that the cunent crop of opaque congessmen
has inherited.
It would be up to the people. through the balloi, to remove
from government the recalcitrants and backsliders on the
transpaxency thrust.

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