Congress failure to pass information bill favors administration - Binay

MANILA, Philippines - Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay believes the administration has benefited from the failure of Congress to pass the Right to Information Bill going on recess last week.

“The failure to pass the bill is a blessing to the Arroyo administration,” he said.

“This administration has invoked everything in order to stop the media from accessing government documents and the people from knowing the truth about the string of high-profile anomalies.”

The running mate of former President Joseph Estrada said Congress must not deprive the Filipino people access to government information, a privilege that they have been waiting for 23 years.

“The lack of an enabling law has allowed many administrations to exploit the constitutional right of Filipinos for a transparent government, especially those who have committed irregularities while in power. Our people were let down by our legislators when both forums failed to get quorum to ratify the bill in the last session day of the 14th Congress,” he said.

Binay said it would be a throwback to the martial law period when government records and public documents were withheld to prevent public outrage over government abuses and neglect.

“But they still have a chance to make up for it during the three day resumption of congressional sessions on May 31-June 2 when they convene as a canvassing body, before they adjourn sine die,” he said.

Binay said he was not surprised that many forces would try to hinder the passage of the bill.

“As long as some congressmen and senators continue to push the bill, Filipinos will always have that glimmer of hope that their constitutional right to information will get an enabling law,” he added.

The Right to Information Bill seeks to grant the public access to records and contracts, loans and agreements, so they can scrutinize deals entered into by the government, Binay said.

The Senate has ratified the bill, but not the House of Representatives for lack of quorum on the final session day. – Jose Rodel Clapano