SOLON CALLS FOR TRANSPARENCY IN TRADE TALKS, URGED CONGRESS TO PASS INFO DISCLOSURE BILL

	SOLON CALLS FOR TRANSPARENCY IN TRADE TALKS, URGED CONGRESS TO PASS INFO DISCLOSURE BILL
Home Site Map About Us Contact Us Press Statements Position Papers Basic Documents Resolutions Affiliates Links	March 11, 2003 Amid calls on the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to disclose the country’s positions in the ongoing negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO), Akbayan Party List Representative Loretta Ann Rosales urged Congress to pass House Bill 5784 that promises to effectively secure the public’s right to access official information. She also pressed Congress to initiate an inquiry into the ongoing WTO negotiations. In a privilege speech, Representative Rosales decried the government’s lack of an active culture of transparency. She deplored the very limited information coming from the country’s trade negotiators on ongoing talks in the run-up to the Fifth Ministerial Conference scheduled on 10-14 September 2003 in Cancun, Mexico. Rep. Rosales emphasized that the Cancun Ministerial will be decisive because it will determine whether a new round of liberalization will be launched. She said that the last WTO Ministerial in Doha, Qatar on 9-14 November 2001 produced a negotiating agenda that will have deep impact on the distribution of income in the country, the direction of legislation, the livelihood of peoples, and the instruments of governance. Representative Rosales made reference to the ongoing budget hearings and the lack of clear policy on how to maximize support for the country’s basic producers and industries. According to her, Congress is reducing the combined nominal budgets for AFMA, agriculture and agrarian reform by 2% for 2003. “In contrast, the United States has passed the “Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002”, or the so-called U.S. Farm Bill, which commits to funnel a total of US$180 billion in 10 years to American farmers, a staggering 70% increase from current yearly levels.” In her privilege speech, Rep. Rosales asked for the following: a disclosure of the Philippine Government’s position with reference to the Draft of Modalities for the Further Commitments on Agriculture released by the WTO Committee on Agriculture. She also asked how the Government is moving on the extension of the quantitative restriction on rice, which exemption will expire in 2004. a disclosure of how the government is responding to alleged efforts by the United States and the European Union to water down the scope of public health as basis for measures for overriding IPRs to just three diseases – malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis. She also asked what its position is on the ongoing review of Article 27.3(b) of TRIPS, or the patenting of lifeforms. a disclosure of all requests, and from which countries, the country received for the opening up of the service sector; and the services our trade negotiators plan to offer and to whom. a disclosure of the Government’s position on the proposed new issues of investments, competition policy, transparency in government procurement, and trade facilitation. and a disclosure of the critical implementation issues our negotiators are pushing for, and how. Representative Rosales called on Congress to “initiate, through the appropriate committee/s, an inquiry into the positions of our representatives to the ongoing negotiations in the WTO”. She said that Congress has “an obligation to the Filipino people to make sure that our negotiators in the WTO carry the public interest”, and that the country’s commitments “will have implications on legislation…and perhaps even the Constitution.” Rep. Rosales also sought support for the effort of the Committee on Public Information chaired by the Honorable Representative Romualdo Vicencio to tackle seriously the pending legislation on access to information. The Committee is now in the process of consolidating various bills on information disclosure. Together with Representatives Del de Guzman, Nereus Acosta, Joel Villanueva and party-mate Rep. Mario Aguja, Rep. Rosales sponsored House Bill 5784, or “An Act to Ensure Public Access to Official Information and for Other Purposes”. According to Rep. Rosales, “HB 5784 addresses the existing gaps in the law on access to official information”. Among the key features of the bill are: an expansive coverage of the right to access to official information that applies to the three branches of government (executive, legislative and judicial), and covers both recorded and unrecorded information. no limitations on the right to information, to retain the flexibility to engage proponents of existing limitations, and push the scope of the rights to its maximum. a simple, speedy, and uniform procedure for accessing official information. definition of crimes relating to access to information, and their corresponding penalty. The bill makes denial of access to information and unlawful destruction of records criminal acts. the creation of the National Information Commission responsible for evolving a culture of transparency in government and is the public’s immediate recourse in cases of violations of their right to information. protection to whistleblowers from legal, administrative or employment-related sanctions. “The bill reflects solid research and is based on first-hand experience of actual information users like policy analysts and media outfits”, said Rep. Rosales. “It was drafted in consultation with the Access to Information Network or ATIN, a formation of public interest organizations committed to fight for the people’s right to know”. Among the members of ATIN are the Action for Economic Reforms, the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, the Transparency and Accountability Network, KAISAHAN, Womenlead, Women’s Legal Bureau, Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, and Pagbabago@Pilipinas. STOP THE NEW ROUND COALITION Organizations:Action for Economic Reforms (AER), Akbayan! Citizens Party, Alliance of Progressive Labor, Alternate Forum for Research in Mindanao (AFRIM), Bayanihan International Solidarity Secretariat, Center for Agrarian Reform, Empowerment and Transformation (CARET), Confederation of Independent Unions in the Public Sector (CIU), Focus on the Global South, Global Network-Philippines, Integrated Rural Development Foundation (IRDF), Kalayaan, Katapat, Kilusang Mangingisda (KM), Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KPD), Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya (KME), Labor Education and Research Network (LEARN), Pambansang Katipunan ng mga Samahan sa Kanayunan (PKSK), Partnership for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development Services (PARRDS), Peoples’ Global Exchange (PGX), Philippine Peasant Institute (PPI), Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), Sanlakas, Sarilaya, Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE), Tambuyog Development Center (TDC), WomanHealth Philippines Individuals:Jessica Reyes-Cantos, Prof. Rene Ofreneo, Prof. Miriam Coronel Ferrer, Prof. Perlita Frago , Verna Dinah Viajar, Sharon Quinsaat, STOP THE NEW ROUND! COALITION Email:stop@focusphilippines.org Stopthenewround-philippines@yahoogroup.com Tel: (632) 4331673, 4333387
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