Kuwento By Benjamin Pimentel

SAN FRANCISCO President Benigno Aquino III has said he supports the Freedom of Information bill, which just took a small step forward this week with the approval of the House committee on public information.

But its clear that Aquino also has reservations about the FOI bill, and these concerns appear to be based on a misconception: He thinks Freedom of Information is all about media.

This was evident in some of his remarks focused on how FOI could help journalists.

President Benigno Aquino III. AP

In a speech last year, he said, This right to know carries with it responsibilities to use the information available in context; to present facts fairly; and to be conscious of some elements who may want to use the information not to inform the public, but to, rather, inflame them,

Giving media more access to information, he continued, does not mean that we want

media to be lapdogs of government; at the same time, media shouldnt allow themselves to be used as attack dogs either.

More recently, Aquino even endorsed the controversial right of reply provision, which could essentially serve to intimidate and hamper media and give people in power even more power to suppress critics.

As he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, If two sides of a story are reported, if the details of every news are accurate and the freedom of all Filipinos to form their own opinion is valued, then any journalist has nothing to worry about, isnt it?

See the original post:

Freedom of Information is not just about media