The Philippine Online Chronicles

At the official launch of Open Government Partnership (OGP) early this week, some critical issues were not brought out in the open.

On Tuesday, President Benigno Aquino III joined 45 other world leaders in New York for the launch of OGP, touted as a multilateral initiative that supposedly aims to secure commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies.

The OGP in its declaration committed to 1) increase the availability of information about government activities 2) support civic participitation 3) increase access to new technologies for openness and accountability.

“We commit to espouse these principles in our international engagement, and work to foster a global culture of open government that empowers and delivers for citizens, and advances the ideals of open and participatory 21st century government,” the OGP said in its declaration endorsed by eight countries as of Sept. 20, 2011.

Examining the list of participants, it would become clear that the OGP event was just another proxy gathering of global elites. Government representatives joined in the event some of the largest foundations and multilateral organizations, including the World Wide Web Foundation, USAID and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The list even included a “civic hacker” from the Transparency Hackers Community.

Of course, no one from Wikileaks was invited at the OGP launch.

The Philippines, together with eight other countries, comprise the OGP steering committee which is chaired by US President Barack Obama and co-chaired by Brazil President Dilma Rousseff.

Ironically, the US government – which has been largely secretive of its Big Brother operations through its embassies in many countries as revealed by Wikileaks – is leading the initiative. And so it comes as no surprise why no one in the event dared to make any reference to Wikileaks despite much talk about transparency and information sharing. Everyone, including President Aquino, preferred to talk about Washington’s version of transparency.

In his keynote speech, President Aquino looked back at the EDSA 1 uprising and his electoral victory (just like during his previous self-absorbed speeches). He credited his administration’s anti-corruption and honest governance drive for the country’s selection as one of the members of the OGP steering committee.

“Let me thank the OGP for honoring my country with membership in the OGP Steering Committee. This acknowledges and further strengthens our commitment to promoting transparency, fostering accountability, and combating corruption,” President Aquino said in his keynote address.

Of course, such pat-in-the-back remarks glossed over the fact that the Aquino administration has lodged gray areas in the 2012 national budget. The 2012 National Expenditure Program has no breakdown of automatic appropriations. Millions worth of lump sum funds remain intact in the budget. Around P600 million would be allocated for President Aquino’s confidential intelligence funds (which will not be subject to auditing). In terms of combating corruption, the Aquino government has merely masturbated on a series of corruption exposés. Not a single person has been jailed for all the chest-beating.

With a not-so-impressive record, the President merely indulged in the lofty and abstract talk of transparency and democracy in his speech – not even mentioning anything about the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill.

Even the Philippine Draft Action Plan 2012, which was submitted to the OGP, did not contain anything about the FOI bill. This is weird considering that the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition, which has been pressing the Palace for the FOI act, was consulted in the document’s drafting (as indicated in the endnotes). Does this mean that the Palace simply neglected the coalition’s position? Or did the coalition choose to remain silent on FOI to merit political accomodation?

In any case, the non-inclusion clear message to those who have been expecting the President’s support on the measure: President Aquino has no intent whatsoever to push for the passage of the FOI bill in the coming year, at the minimum.

What  the draft action plan spells out were token measures to supposedly promote transparency and curb corruption, such as mandatory disclosure of budget information; compilation of laws, Supreme Court decisions, and executive issuances at www.gov.ph; issuance of Philippine Government Internal Audit Manual (PGIAM); among others. Provided that these transparency measures were put in place, the next question will be: To what extent will the government accommodate criticisms, comments and suggestions?

How will the government for instance take into account the mounting calls by state universities and colleges for higher state subsidy? How can it really address the transport sector’s allegation of overpricing by oil companies? If the Aquino government’s attitude towards these issues would be an indication, it appears that it is not interested at all at civic participation and public engagement despite Aquino’s trumpeting of participatory governance in New York.

The government’s plan for online engagement lacks seems to be sorely lacking in scope and strategies.  The draft action plan boasts of the Pera ng Bayan, a website of the Finance department wherein citizens can supposedly file anonymous reports on the use of public funds. Other measures focus on digitizing files for online access and on encouraging departments to tap Twitter and Facebook (which is already being practiced). Apart from these, no concrete program for meaningful online engagement is being offered at this point.

Anyway, the action plan is still a work-in-progress as what President Aquino said in his speech. But then again, the real challenge is to how effective the government will be in creating mechanisms for feedback and incorporating inputs in the draft. Will the Philippines’ engagement in OGP be just another empty rhetoric, just like everything that Aquino has made so far?

Photo by Malacañang Photo Bureau. Some Rights Reserved.