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THE
National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) is
set to draft guidelines for the dissemination of project
information to the public, a move that could further
restrict public access to documents at a time when there
is a mounting call for transparency on official
development assistance (ODA)-funded projects.
The Neda
decision to limit information coming out of the agency
will impact more on the media, running parallel to
restrictions on lawmakers conducting inquiries, as laid
down in Executive Order 464 and Memorandum Circular 108,
or the Guidelines on Appearances of Department Heads and
Other Officials of the Executive Department Before
Congress. Senators still await, meantime, the outcome of
a petition they filed before the Supreme Court, seeking
to mandate Neda to submit to the lawmakers certain
project documents on the national broadband network (NBN)
deal with ZTE Co. of China.
Reliable
sources said while EO 464 and MC 108 do not specifically
state that members of the media are included in the
coverage, the Neda is taking a more conservative stance
by not divulging any information on any project to any
individual or entity. This particularly pertains,
sources said, to information that might be regarded as
subjudice on account of the Senate petition, which the
SC recently remanded to a lower court.
To this,
sources said, the documents sent—including the
chronology of events from the Neda’s receipt of the
project proposal, to the approval of the Neda board,
were cleared with Malacañang. The unsent documents, like
the Minutes of the Meeting of the Neda Board when the
NBN project was approved, were considered covered by EO
464.
In case
there are requests for documents not covered under the
provisions set by EO 464 and MC 108, the Neda will first
seek the President’s approval. The Neda Board, the
highest governing body of the agency, is chaired by the
President.
So far,
sources said, only official press statements and other
similar documents will be among the documents that can
be distributed to the media or the public in general.
However,
the complete guidelines are still being drafted and will
first be submitted to Malacañang for approval.
Sources
said this never happened at Neda before, except during
martial law. Documents or project, evaluation reports
could be directly obtained from the Neda director
general or any ranking official or from the specific
staff or department concerned.
BusinessMirror tried to get an official response from
Acting Neda Director General Augusto Santos on the
matter but he could not be reached for comment as of
press time.
Meanwhile, Neda Development Information Staff (DIS)
Director Vicky Quimbo said that currently, the Neda is
being guided by MC 108.
MC 108
covers the nondisclosure of information contained in
conversations, closed-door meetings, and information
between intergovernment agencies, among others.
“This
section shall apply to inquiries made in aid of
legislation which may, however, cause disclosures on, or
involve matters of, privilege or confidential
information, including, but not limited to the
following: conversations and correspondence between the
President and other persons on matters of privilege;
state secrets, including military, diplomatic and other
national security matters which in the interest of
national security should not be divulged; information
between intergovernment agencies prior to the conclusion
of treaties and executive agreements; discussion in
closed-door Cabinet meetings, as well as internal
deliberations of government officials comprising part of
a process by which government decisions are made or
policies are formulated; and matters affecting national
security and public order,” Section 2 of MC 108 stated.
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