No Report. No Nullification
Ever wonder why we never or rarely ever hear of reports coming from The Administration that they are ceasing a project that the public or media has not heard of or reported about? Ever wonder why there seems to only be a stoppage or a scrapping of a project, only after reports of anomalies have surfaced. Sort of like The Piatco’s build-operate contract, The NBN deal, the list can definitely go on.
This is the policy of: No Report, No Nullification.
Sounds similar to that No ID, No Entry sign we see everywhere right?
With the recent conviction of Niñez Cacho Olivarez, The Editor in Chief of The Tribune Newspaper in The Philippines, it has got me thinking, that if not for the fierce writing of many in the media regarding such anomalies, would there even have been a scrapping of the project?
The fact is that we just don’t know what else is behind that closet of this Arroyo Administration, and if it takes a Niñez to force it out of an Administration, then so be it. If what it takes to make this Administration leak out all of its dirty laundry is pressure from media, then I hope that more journalists such as Niñez will take that challenge.
The fact is that this is the rule of The Executive, that if we do not know, then they will not tell. And if they will not tell, then all projects are assumed to be above board.
Sadly, for our administration, projects that opt out of the limelight are not necessarily ongoing nor dropped. A constant update in the news assures us that something is still in existence, but that is just it, government agencies are keen on delivering the news only when a certain project is hot. When it dies it, it dies in silence. We have no system for openly reviewing newly-financed, ongoing, and/or scrapped projects.