Friday, June 24, 2005

Watch Out

By virtue of being the chief public official of the land, and an elected one at that, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo deserves to be scrutinized in the extreme.

Her transparency must extend to every little thing she does, including her mobile phone calls.

The Anti-Wiretapping Law is stupid as to excuse public officials from public scrutiny.

When one is a public official, the only things left for him/her private are his/her urinary and bowel movements.

The public, who empowered the official in the first place, is entitled to know the dealings that transpire among public officials – their calls, their memos, their letters. Everything – personal and official.

To ensure accountability, the public official should inform the citizenry, in real time, of everything that he/she does. We are in the Information Age, and shortening attention spans will not suffice for a proper ingestion of lengthy accomplishment reports full of legalese.

Even if it is a matter of national security, an informed citizenry is an empowered citizenry – a citizenry who knows how to act and react to protect its sovereignty. No one must assume the responsibility of deciding what’s good or bad to know – every information is worth knowing, for a huge fire can start with a small spark.

3 comments:

Erwin Rafael said...

oy, hiniram ko yang "comfort the afflicted..." tag mo. saan ba galing yan?

ronald said...

sa isang astig na journalist. archibal macleish yata. =D musta? sayang, di tayo nagkita sa fete. ang taba mo na raw!!!

Anonymous said...

muah