Press Release
August 28, 2014

Transcript of Sen. Grace Poe's ANC interview with Mr. Ron Cruz

RON CRUZ: Joining us on the line now is Sen. Grace Poe. She is the chairperson of the Senate committee on public information and mass media and the primary author of the FOI bill. Good afternoon, senator.

SEN. GRACE POE: Good afternoon Ron at sa lahat po ng nanonood magandang hapon po.

CRUZ: Senator, we have the President again saying that he will not prioritize nor certify the FOI bill as urgent, your reaction?

POE: I respect the decision of the President. It is really a presidential discretion to certify a bill as urgent. The initial reasoning of the President was actually, it would be better for us to debate fully the provisions of the FOI considering the impact it will have on governance. But let us also not forget that the President has included the FOI in his list of priority bills. I think it is number 18 in the list but the difference of the FOI and the other bills in the list is that the FOI has really a clamor from the people, particularly those from the media and those from the business industry. So I remain optimistic that this will pass in spite of the fact that it has not been certified by the President.

CRUZ: Well, he has been saying that the administration has been transparent enough. Do you believe it has been?

POE: I think compared to past administrations, the administration of President Aquino has been transparent to a point. Although I think it will also help the President in a way because if we have the FOI now, certain things could have been prevented. For example, problems with the DAP, the transparencies, if from the beginning, this was already uploaded in their website, then we could have questioned the legality of the DAP, and it would not have reached this point. Second, the question of the President with regard to some Judiciary discretion, the statement of assets and liabilities of the members of the court. This would have been a part of the provisions of the FOI that the members of the government, salary grade 27 and above, and heads of agencies, should be automatically uploaded and posted. So, the FOI actually further transcends the president's goal of transparency. For me, I don't think there is anything to fear with the FOI if you are really not hiding anything in the government.

CRUZ: The FOI bill has been passed in the Senate on third reading if I'm not mistaken, is that correct?

POE: Yes. We are just waiting for the consolidation of the bill in the Lower House and how they would go with the motion and hopefully reach third reading before we can have the bicameral process for approving the FOI.

CRUZ: What's the status of the FOI bill in the House?

POE: Well, I heard that they are already consolidating. I am not really updated on what is happening but I know that they have more versions of the FOI. The good news is the contentious provisions when it comes to the right of reply section of the FOI, I don't think it is being considered. I think it is being considered as a separate bill. So, there are a lot of things that they are still debating on in the Lower House but at least the right of reply is not part of it....I am hoping that even without this certification, the members of Congress will see the urgency of such a bill that would really help further ensure transparency in the government.

CRUZ: Right, so if the President is not going to certify the FOI bill as urgent, it is a matter of asking the members of the House to kind of move and how is this going to happen and how will you be able to ask the House of the Representatives, "Hey, we are done now here in the Senate, it's your turn now and we are just waiting for you."

POE: When I saw Speaker Belmonte in a gathering, he mentioned to me and he promised that this will be passed within his term. I am hoping that it would be his term in the 16th Congress. Now, there are also other proponents in support of the FOI bill in the Lower House. Of course, there is inter-parliamentary courtesy and you can't really pressure them but informally when we talk, I know that some of them are really determined to have this passed and as I have mentioned Ron, the difference between the FOI and the other bills that are pending in the priority bills, I think there is really great interest in the clamor for it to be passed particularly from the members of the media and also those in the business sector which has been one of the crowning achievements of the Aquino Administration -- the supposed economic progress of our country - and I think that to be able to sustain that we should institutionalize reforms beyond this administration. So, I really urge Congress to be able to see it at this particular angle that this is not for them and this is for the future generations but again as I have said, kung wala namang tinatago, wala namang dapat ikatakot, hindi ko alam kung merong mga itinatago na hindi naman nila gustong mabunyag pero gayunpaman nagbibigay pa rin dapat ng limitasyon ang FOI. Hindi naman dapat abusuhin para sa kasamaan katulad ng mga National Security issues, hindi naman pwedeng ibunyag iyan especially if there is an ongoing criminal investigation that might put into jeopardy whistleblowers or those that would give us leads to solve a crime.

CRUZ: Senator Grace Poe, thank you very much for talking to us.

POE: Thank you, Ron.

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