Malacañang on Tuesday reaffirmed support for the Freedom of Information bill, even as the Palace clarified President Aquino’s omission of the long-pending FOI bill in the list of priority measures he endorsed for early approval during his final State of the Nation Address (Sona) before a joint session of Congress the other day.
Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr., at a Tuesday Palace briefing, also explained why the President failed or neglected to include the January 25 Mamasapano massacre of 44 Special Action Force (SAF) commandos by Moro rebels in his annual report to the nation.
According to Coloma Aquino had already made an implicit admission of his judgment lapse in “Oplan Exodus,” code name for the slain SAF commandos’ mission to nab a high-value Malaysian terrorist in Maguindanao two weeks after the incident.
“He [Aquino] already said last February 6 that he will carry it with him until he dies,” Coloma pointed out, adding that “on March 26 at Philippine National Police Academy graduation, he said it will be his last speech on that topic, as he asked for understanding from his ‘bosses.’”
The secretary recalled that Aquino, in conveying a sense of guilt over the death of the 44 SAF commandos ambushed by Moro rebels, had conceded “he is not perfect and he has had to decide on the basis of the best available information…. My own sense is that this is in essence his acknowledgment.”
“Wala pong pagnanais na hindi po bigyan ng kahalagahan ang kanilang concern bilang pamilya ng mga
nasawi,” Coloma told reporters at the Palace briefing, referring to “disappointed” relatives of the slain SAF commandos.
Fielding questions at the Palace briefing on glaring “omission” of the FOI bill in Aquino’s Sona endorsements before Congress on Monday, Coloma assured that the FOI remains a Palace priority.
“The FOI was already in the priority legislation list submitted previously by the Office of the President to Congress,” he said.
Coloma also noted that according to media reports, Speaker Feliciano R. Belmonte Jr. had already included the FOI in the priority agenda he announced at the House of Representatives opening session on Monday.
1 comment
He should have just spoken the truth, This was not a SONA. It was just a political speech and there was no room to include the murders of the 44 SAF policemen, the FOI, or the rebuilding caused by Yolanda. The speech was intended for the yellow gang and not for the Nation.