Undermining the right to know and the country's democracy

Here's a statement of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) on the Supreme Court affirmation of its March 25 decision favoring executive privilege. The ruling, CMFR said in the statement, does not only affect the public's right to know and the role of press in society but also the vitality and future of democracy in the Philippines.


Statement of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility
Assault on the Public's Right to Know
Source: Freedom Watch
Sept. 11, 2008

The Supreme Court’s affirmation of its March 25 decision in favor of executive privilege undermines the public interest function of the press to provide information to a citizenry that has a right to it on matters of public concern. Even more dangerously it also erodes the democratic imperative of transparency in governance.

By expanding the coverage of executive privilege to include communications authored or solicited and received by a presidential advisor, in this case then National Economic and Development Authority Director General Romulo Neri, the Court has legitimized government secrecy to an extent yet to be established by practice.

Read more here.