EDITORIAL - Low priority

One thing that has been highlighted by the congressional probes into corruption in the Armed Forces of the Philippines is that transparency in fund utilization would have discouraged graft. This is also true in all other government offices. Surely President Aquino is fully aware of this, having won power by a landslide on an anti-corruption platform and vowing transparency in governance.

Transparency advocates are therefore dismayed that the Freedom of Information bill, junked at the last minute by the previous Congress, has been dropped from the measures given priority by the President. Also dropped from the priority list is a measure staunchly supported during the campaign by candidate Benigno Aquino III – the Reproductive Health bill.

With the country facing problems on numerous fronts, there are certainly many other legislative measures that urgently need enactment. But when it comes to fighting graft and promoting transparency and accountability, much is expected of the man who won the presidency with the battle cry, “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap.” A Freedom of Information law would go a long way in winning the battle against corruption. But the measure is now being “fine-tuned” together with the RH bill. How long fine-tuning will take is anybody’s guess.

The Freedom of Information bill has gone through the legislative mill for a decade. Its failure to hurdle that mill is understandable in the time of the ZTE broadband scandal and the fertilizer scam. In the previous Congress, there was no quorum on the last session day at the House of Representatives to ratify the consolidated version of the bill, which the Senate had ratified a few months earlier. The House leadership at the time shed crocodile tears for the failure of the chamber, but it was clear that the political will for the passage of the law wasn’t there.

The administration that touts the straight path or daang matuwid is expected to be different. Yet at the first opportunity, it has dropped this crucial bill, which aims to widen public access to government records. If Malacañang itself is dropping the initiative, this bill is doomed, again.