PCIJ WebAlert #13.2008

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W H A T ' S N E W @ www.pcij.org
11.April.2008


---------------[ i Report Feature )------

PERSPECTIVE

An Absolute Privilege
by Nepomuceno Malaluan

FORMER socioeconomic planning secretary Romulo Neri scored a legal
victory when the Supreme Court said the Senate could not compel him to
answer three questions that it found to be covered by executive
privilege. But transparency advocates say the public may end up the
loser should that decision become final.

A commentary by lawyer Nepomuceno Malaluan argues that the March 25,
2008 ruling makes the presidential communications privilege
practically absolute, thereby denying the public access to information
that may have profound impact on governance and legislation, among
other things. Analyzing how the majority of the justices arrived at
their conclusion, he also says it seems there were some facts
presented in the case that were not considered or evaluated,
especially those pertaining to the Senate's need for the answers to
help it craft legislation.

Malaluan questions as well with the Court's determination that the
questions asked of Neri lean more toward the exercise of the
legislative oversight function. He notes, "Unfortunately, while there
may be instances when an inquiry is undertaken solely in oversight,
more often the oversight character of an inquiry is inextricable from
a legislative purpose."

"It is by being factually informed of the actual workings or
administration of existing laws, or of the ways by which wrongdoing
such as corruption is committed, that intelligent legislation may be
had, whether through the amendment of existing laws or the enactment
of new ones," Malaluan writes. "It is because of the reality of this
inter-linkage that the Court itself, in Senate v. Ermita, recognized
the validity of facilitating oversight through compulsory process when
such oversight is performed in pursuit of legislation."

We hope the piece will help enlighten readers on the wider
implications of the Supreme Court decision on the Neri case.

Read on at http://pcij.org
Post your comments at http://pcij.org/blog/?p=2291


---------------[ The Daily PCIJ )------

PCIJ wins in Panibagong Paraan a second time
by Alecks P. Pabico

THE Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism emerged as one of
33 winners at last night's awarding ceremonies of the Panibagong
Paraan 2008, duplicating its feat during the maiden staging of the
project grant competition in 2004.

The PCIJ won for its project proposal dubbed "Suriin Ang Kahirapan: A
Community Audit of Poverty in the Philippines," an interactive, crowd-
sourcing and database-aggregation site that would look into the
situation of the five poorest provinces in the Philippines. The
project aims to monitor the implementation of programs in the said
provinces, from the points of view of various civil society, public
sector and community stakeholders in economic development using the
non-traditional data-gathering tool of crowd-sourcing, an offshoot of
the "citizen journalism" movement.

Read on and post your comments at http://pcij.org/blog/?p=2292

'Fields of Glo'
by Karol Ilagan

CLARK Special Economic Zone, Pampanga -- Last Friday's one-day National
Food Summit at the Fontana Convention Center was yet another
opportunity for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to dazzle everyone
with her usual multibillion money solution. This time, in response to
an impending rice crisis, Arroyo unveiled a new agribusiness agenda
worth at least P36.5 billion primarily to boost food production.

On top of the P5-billion subsidy she already alloted to rice farmers
earlier this week, Arroyo has allocated new funds for the program she
dubbed as FIELDS, which stands for fertilizer, irrigation and
infrastructure, education and extension, loans, dryers and other post-
production facilities, and seeds and other genetic materials.

Read on and post your comments at http://pcij.org/blog/?p=2284