Magsaysay awardee urges RP to pass law giving more info access on gov’t projects

TAGAYTAY CITY — An Indian national who received a Magsaysay Award recently for his fight against corruption in his country said the Philippines needs a law that will allow public access to information on government projects to ensure transparency and accountability.

Arvind Kejriwal, a 2006 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Emergent Leadership, made this point in a video conference during the 2006 Civic Action and the Fight Against Corruption seminar here.

"In India, it is very difficult to take action against (corrupt) officials. We, back home, have used our right to information law to make government accountable,’’ Kejriwal, who is in the United States, told participants of the seminar, which was sponsored by the US Embassy.

"It would help if there is a similar law in the Philippines," Kejriwal said.

A 38-year-old tax officer with the Indian Revenue Service, Kejriwal founded the group Parivartan (which means "change") in 2000 and appealed to the Indian tax commissioner to make the tax department more transparent and less capricious. Conducting a non-violent protest outside the chief commissioner’s office, Parivartan was able to convince the tax chief to implement the reforms.

The group was successful in using the Delhi Right to Information Act of 2001 in obtaining official records and exposing misappropriations in government public works projects.

In activating India’s right to information movement in the grassroots, Kejriwal was able to empower the poor residents of New Delhi to fight corruption by holding the government accountable.

"(The) enactment of the right to information law has ushered in a new era in Indian democracy. In a democracy, people are the masters and the government exists to serve them. But the situation is reversed in practice. Right to information has tilted the balance of power in favor of ordinary people," Kejriwal pointed out.

Using the Delhi Right to Information Act, Parivartan was able to expose high-level theft in the rationing of wheat and rice to the poor, which had already been partially paid for by taxes in the Delhi slum of Sundernagari.

The group was also able to pressure public works project managers in Sundernagari not to start any project without revealing the details of the contract to the public.

Kejriwal said it would benefit the Philippines if, in addition to the passage of a right to information law, a law punishing government officials who refuse to release public documents would also be enacted.

Participants in the seminar, coming from the Church, business, academe and media sectors, have noted that as compared to India and other countries where there are laws guaranteeing freedom of access to information, ordinary citizens in the Philippines find it difficult to secure public documents such as statements of assets and liabilities of government officials. The documents are deemed vital to transparency monitoring.

"Right to information has emerged as an extremely powerful tool in the hands of ordinary people to fight injustice and corruption. It has given voice to the voiceless," Kejriwal stressed.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award is Asia’s equivalent of a Nobel Prize.

Established in 1957, the Ramon Magsaysay Award honors the memory and leadership example of the third Philippine president. It is given yearly to individuals and organizations in Asia that achieve excellence in their respective fields.

The awards are given in six categories: government service, public service, community leadership, journalism, literature and creative communication arts, peace and international understanding and emergent leadership. — Mike Frialde