suddenly, after more than a decade on the shelf, the Freedom of Information Act is up for debate and approval in the house of representatives.
i remember catching senator drilon and representative locsin on an anc sometime last year and they were talking about how FOIA bills have been pending in both houses for the longest time, thanks to majorities who donot want the public to know about the appropriation of funds, i.e., how our taxes are spent, i suppose, for bayad-utang and, let’s not forget, the pork barrel.
so what has changed? bakit biglang eager na eager si speaker nograles na ma-aprub na ang FOIA? can it be really because it is an anti-corruption measure that will “promote transparency and confidence in government?”
or is it because, in the wake of the public outcry against the latest supreme court decision upholding executive privilege even on matters like the corrupt nbn deal, nograles and gma’s other minions in the lower house want to enact an FOIA that will uphold the supreme court ruling? gloria gloria hallelujah?
scary.
We’ll know when we get a draft of the bill.
Limited freedom of expression:Some dictators allow limited freedom of expression, as long the expression — written or spoken — doesn’t directly challenge the dictator’s rule. The restrictions vary. In some dictatorships, the people can call for free elections or criticize the dictator. In the more repressive tyrannies, such speech could be punished by imprisonment or worse.