The Philippine
Government has constantly been challenged of futile bureaucracy, corruption,
dysfunctional political dynasties, and patronage politics. Our government has
never been free from all these issues occurring almost every day, in all
degrees and forms. To a certain extent, the government is associated with
negative connotations simply because the major controversies that have been
happening through time gradually lose the trust of the electorate, and the
Filipino people in general. After the biggest syndicate in Congress through the
PDAF scam, the trust of the people drastically slimmed down that no achievement
of the government would already being back the same trust that people once had
towards them. Despite the efforts that our government may exert more, tendency
is that people would start questioning every angle of these mobilizations, and
end up being overly meticulous to search even for a minor flaw. Then, the cycle
goes on. Controversies would arise one after another, no matter how petty these
issues would be, simply because Filipinos are more intelligent now. We no
longer want to fall into inhumane ploys of corrupt politicians dominating the
what we call as the unit that would bring order and justice in the Philippine
soil.
With all these said, the call for transparency in
government shall come to its peak. We do not want another Napoles to employ
public funds brought by the sweat and tears of our countrymen. We do not want
to see another Enrile, Estrada, or Revilla whose families lavishly live their
lives in grandeur mansions and luxurious cars, while millions of our brothers
and sisters would even fight for a space under a bridge only to find a place to
sleep. The people should know where their money is going, simply because these
funds are entrusted to the government with so much hope and sacrifice. We need
transparency in government to genuinely reflect how our politicians should
apply the best budget decisions and honest biddings for all projects. We need
transparency in government to win back the glory of democracy that our
grandparents fought for. We need transparency in government simply because
Filipinos deserve the truth and honesty in government, nothing more, nothing
less.
I express my support to the passage of the Freedom of Information
(FOI) Bill because this bill is an instrument to that truth that we are
clamoring for. The Freedom of Information Bill will enhance our ability to
scrutinize budgets and project allocations in the national government and even
in our local government units. The FOI will be the foundation of a genuinely
democratic government that would allow participation of the citizens to be
vigilant towards government’s decisions. The FOI is a great opportunity to
enhance academic research, because government files and documents may already
be accessed easily to provide research references for academic purposes. Above
all, the FOI is the only feasible way to get the trust of the Filipinos back,
because no matter how hard the government would work in the next few months or
years, Filipinos would still think badly about the government if we are not
informed enough where taxes are going – the most important resource that
government must be accountable for.
If the current administration promised us of a “Daang
Matuwid”, we might as well demand for the passing of this simple bill. Transparency leads to honesty. Honesty leads
to greater accountability. Greater accountability leads to better public
service.
Pass the FOI Bill now!
