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Encoders Christmas Party… Martisan, Bacong

                  Abolish the Right of Privacy to Government Officials

We on the affirmative side strongly believe that privacy to government officials must be abolished because we strongly believe that this is the main root of corruption and poverty in our country. The Philippines now is well known not as a progressive or brilliant country but one of the corrupt countries in Asia and even on the world. We all know it but we let it happen. Now is the time to stop it and make a difference for our own good and for the sake of our country.

      I as the first speaker, strongly believe that privacy to government officials must be abolished because of three reasons….

No. 1 Government officials used and abused the law on public rust of each and every citizen. No. 2. Government officials committed unlawful activities involving graft and corruption and causes rebellion against the and no.3 abolishing the privacy to government officials can help our country be more progressive.

      Why do I say that? Ladies and gentlemen our present government is capable of doing unlawful activities because they know that they are protected by the right of privacy and they are not afraid of doing it because they have lots of leaks in the government administration that needs to be cleared. According to my research, it says that it is simply to easy for the government to exempt itself from restrictions on its information because they have the power to protect themselves. Meaning, they are abusing their power in doing unlawful activities and they are protected by the right of privacy. If we abolished their privacy, they cannot do those things and they can abuse our public respect on them. Based on the 1987 Philippine Constitution, Article XI en titled “Accountability on Public Officers”, it is clearly stated, “Public office is a Public trust”. Public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people serve them with outmost responsibility, integrity, act with patriotism and justice because public office is a public trust meaning we all trust the governments duty and obligation, but how can we trust them if we as a citizen of this country do not know their activities whether for the good of our country or for themselves alone. And because we all don’t know it because they are protected by what so called right of privacy; they are abusing it. We all know that the prime duty of the government is to serve and protect the people, maintain of peace and order, protection of life, and promotion of general welfare for enjoyment of all people. Ok, I agree with it, but the question is are they doing it well? It is stated there that it is their duty to maintain peace and order. Look at our country now, all over the country are against the administration of the government because they don’t like how the administration used their duty. Do we think its peace and order? If only information is held by the government then it can be used to bring people together. Government information can make the Filipino trust them. As the philosopher often ask how can people choose to trust each other if they always hide something that we do not know?

      Now let us proceed to reason number 2… Government officials committed unlawful activities involving graft and corruption. Graft and corruption was considered as the “the biggest problem of all” according to the late Jaime Cardinal Sin, Then the former president Corazon C. Aquino likewise said that corruption has returned and her public perception was “that corrupt government officials are greater threat to our country”. Government officials are always accused of doing unlawful activities like graft and corruption and for us to clear our mind from rumors, we must abolished their privacy. We all know that government officials are always involved on this activity because they are in their position to steal because they hold our money for projects and plans for the benefit of our country. But how can we know if they are using it for good purposes if we don’t know where it is being used? If privacy to government officials be abolished we will now know how our money are being used and there are less chances of mistrust against them. According to statistics made by PERC, Philippines placed 6^th out of 11 Asian countries as highly prone to corruption. As a whole, national and international opinion says that the Philippines is still corrupt and being unable to fight the problem. Indeed, today, Graft and corruption in the Philippines remains. [About 30% of the national budget is reportedly lost because of graft and corruption every year]. There are different types of corruption in the Philippines and it is all not solved because of its privacy to government officials.

      On article II sec. 7 it states that people has the right to information on matters of public concern and on Article VI sec. 20 states that the records and books of accounts shall be preserved and be open to the public in accordance with the law. Meaning, we all have the right to abolished their privacy because they are stated in the Philippine Constitution. [On the same article, section 29 it is clearly stated that No money shall be paid out of the treasury except in pursuance made by law meaning all money collected on tax are used for a special purpose and shall be treated as a special fund and paid out for such special purpose only. It is clearly stated that on this article that it is difficult for us to trace whether they are using our money in a good purpose because they are the one holding it and they are protected by their privacy rights so, we must abolish it for our own sake.

      And the last but not the least reason. Abolishing the privacy of government officials can help our country be more progressive. When I say progressive, it means that to enhance the economy and livelihood of the country. But look at our country now, do you think it is that what so called progressive? Now, why do I say that? It is very obvious that our country now is very poor in terms of economy. According to my research a survey conducted in the Philippines by Canada based Fraser Institute (FI) along with six other countries and it says that our economy are in financial crisis. A narrow deficit was shown in 1997 annual budget with revenue of $ 16.3 billion growth was expected to slow to 3% GNP as a result of financial crisis. According to the statistics conducted by the Forbes it says that the economy of our country is declining from 0.6% in 1998 but slowed 3.2% in 2001. Growth accelerated by 4.3% in 2002 but goes down by 3.9% in 2003; not only that, Philippines also faces higher oil prices, higher interest rates, exports are stagnant or declining. What will happen to our country if that will get worst? Do we want to live like beggars on the streets? I think not, all of us wants peaceful and wealthy life. But how can we attain that if we let the government officials do those things? The only solution is to abolished right of privacy to Government officials.

      Privacy to government officials creates doubt to foreign investors because of rumors of government in their public service. If only information is shared by the government then, there will be less chances of mistrust. Foreign investor and big companies will now boost our economy and jobless people will be benefited that creates more progressive economy to the country.

      In politics it is very difficult to prove corruption because of the protection of privacy, but impossible to prove its absence. For this reason, there are often rumors about them. Politicians are often accused of stealing money from the government funds because of their need to solicit financial contributions for their campaigns. And for us to clear those rumors in our mind, we must abolish their privacy in order to stop their wrong doings.

      The illegal activities of the government must be eliminated or at least lessen because of the large amount of public money that has been lost through it. What we need is a moral leadership and honest government officials to lead our country. But this problem cannot be solved by just an empty promises, what we need is to prosecute or punish those who committed crimes in the government with no fear and favor and put them behind those bars in order for us to achieve decency in the public service.

      Thus, in order to clear our minds from illegal activities of the government. I hereby say that privacy to government officials must be abolished. Let us all protect our country from poverty and graft and corruption for the benefit of the people and tour lives.