Access to Information

Lawmakers urged: Ratify the Freedom of Information act now!

by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

With just five Congress session days to go, a broad coalition of over 100 media, civil society and nongovernment organizations yesterday urged senators and congressmen to set aside partisan politics this week and ratify the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act as a unanimous vote for good governance and stronger democratic institutions.
In a statement, the Right [...]

Read more... | Posted Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Groups press Nograles: Pass Freedom of Info Act!

by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

WITH just nine session days to go before the 14th Congress adjourns for the May 2010 elections, leaders of over 100 media and nongovernment organizations urged lawmakers to pass with dispatch the Freedom of Information Act, as a first step to enabling the conduct of clean, credible and orderly elections.
In a joint statement, the Right [...]

Read more... | Posted Sunday, January 10th, 2010
One clamor: Right to Know, Right Now!

March set Monday for senators
to rush Freedom of Info Law

by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

THE CLOCK is ticking fast, and the Senators are now facing judgment: Are they champions of the people’s right to know?

The Senators have only 23 session days left before they adjourn for the May 2010 elections to pass their version of the Freedom of Information Act, a law that has been promised 22 years ago by the 1987 Constitution.

As well, over the last eight years, a broad coalition of independent media and civil society groups has waged a relentless campaign to pass the law to help combat corruption, enforce government accountability, and empower the people.

Read more... | Posted Monday, November 9th, 2009

Laiban deal requires RP’s
performance undertaking

by Roel Landingin

MORE THAN just a “take-or-pay” stricture, the P52-billion joint venture deal between the state-run Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and food-beverage giant San Miguel Corporation will require the Philippine government to issue a “performance undertaking,” a form of state commitment that the Arroyo administration has generally been wary of giving away.

A performance undertaking is a guarantee issued by the Republic that the state agency involved in a project will comply with all its obligations to the contractor, typically a private company.

Read more... | Posted Monday, July 20th, 2009
Deal with San Miguel confidential?

MWSS keeps Laiban dam tender
secret, even to NEDA

by Roel Landingin

THE Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) could be exposing itself and the government to undue financial risks under a negotiated deal with San Miguel Corporation to build the P52-billion Laiban dam. But the state agency tasked to evaluate the soundness of large-scale infrastructure projects has been unable to come to the aid of the MWSS – which may not even welcome such in the first place.

Like the rest of the public, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) has been kept in the dark regarding the details of the proposed joint-venture agreement.

Read more... | Posted Sunday, July 12th, 2009
Sidebar

MWSS execs: On sick leave, out
of office, mum on Laiban

by Karol Ilagan

FOR a regulatory agency, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) seems given to secrecy, even when it is now bidding the biggest project of its 131-year existence.

Check out the PCIJ’s coverage of the Laiban dam project:

MWSS: Laiban deal with SMC ‘may or may not be best option’
Video: MWSS officials address Laiban project
Costliest dam project [...]

Read more... | Posted Sunday, July 12th, 2009
Laiban dam a template?

New joint-venture rules allow
little oversight, more abuse

by Roel Landingin

Last of Two Parts

The first part of this report reveals how secrecy and precipitate haste mark the tender by the state-run Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for the P52-billion Liban Dam project in Tanay, Rizal.

THE PROPOSED joint-venture deal between San Miguel Corporation and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) to build and run [...]

Read more... | Posted Monday, July 6th, 2009

Secrecy, rush mark tender
of biggest MWSS dam project

by Roel Landingin

THE GOVERNMENT is giving bidders only five working days to initiate a challenge to the unsolicited proposal of San Miguel Corporation – the food-beverage giant controlled by Marcos crony Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr. – to build the P52-billion Laiban dam in Rizal province, potentially one of the biggest infrastructure projects to be launched by the Arroyo administration.

Read more... | Posted Sunday, July 5th, 2009
Sidebar

What can P7B buy? Millions
of pricey pens and modems

by Jaemark Tordecilla

FOR THE younger generation steeped in the real-time world of text messaging and Twitter, the idea of having to wait several weeks for election results is downright silly. Yet even the youth may have a hard time taking in the P7.2-billion price tag of the Commission on Elections’ new poll automation system.

Some may argue that it’s still a small price to pay in exchange for a long-awaited break from a tradition of election-related controversy. A perennially cash-strapped country, however, will never go wrong in scrutinizing every bill a supplier hands over to it.

Read more... | Posted Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
Survey of reporters:

Execs give flimsy, inane excuses
to rebuff access to info requests

by Ed Lingao and Rowena Carranza-Paraan

WHEN U.S. federal authorities caught the family of Maj. Gen. Carlos Garcia smuggling thick wads of dollar bills into the United States in 2003, reporters covering the defense beat scrambled for documents to check out the lifestyle of top officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

So in early 2004, defense reporters filed a request for the Statements of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) of Garcia and other officers with the AFP Public Information Office and the AFP’s Office of Ethical Standards and Public Accountability (OESPA).

Read more... | Posted Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

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