MANILA, Philippines — Why are “sensitive documents” being “leaked” from the Office of the President?
In a statement over the weekend, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) said “recent leakages of sensitive documents” from the President’s office must be investigated.
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Specifically, the VACC voiced out “great alarm” over the alleged leakage of the draft administrative order on the expansion of the functions of the presidential chief of staff, as well as the memorandum from the Office of the Presidential Legal Counsel that rejected it.
“The leak of the draft Administrative Order and the alleged memorandum from the Presidential Legal Counsel should be thoroughly investigated because of the very serious implications involved,” it said, noting that both were not even public documents yet.
“These documents are in the nature of privileged communication between the Office of the President and its support offices and units,” it said.
The non-government organization stressed that the incident “demonstrates a serious breach in the security and integrity of the Office of the President.”
The VACC said the memorandum was a “privileged communication” between the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and the President so it “should never have been the subject of commentaries or opinions, whether in the print media, television and radio or social media talk shows.”
It added that such communication “should have the highest National Security value.”
“Moreover, the reorganization of his office, and the designation of personnel, including redistribution of functions and responsibilities is the sole prerogative of the President,” said the VACC.
“It is therefore incumbent upon the Presidential Security Group and the concerned offices to determine the full nature of these alarming leakages, the purveyors of this dangerous practice, and the extent of the security breach on the whole system of the Office of the President,” it said.