‘It’s OA.’
Nothing but a ‘repressive’ and an ‘OA (overacting)’ requirement is how media professionals would describe the conditions laid down by the Office of the Ombudsman for journalists to submit their outputs based on the acquired statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) following the reversal of policy that concealed the document of public officials for years.
While the move by Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla was a welcome development, Danilo Arao, a journalism professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman, said the graft-buster should be reminded of the ‘mutual trust’ between the press and the government.
‘It’s very, very repressive because why do you need that particular requirement? It’s too bureaucratic and why is it the business of the Office of the Ombudsman to know how the information was used for the media?’ Arao told the Inquirer in a phone interview.
Arao acknowledged that while there may be inaccuracies and even misquotations on the SALNs of public officials, he said other members of the press can easily call them out and not Remulla himself.
‘That’s part of the self-regulatory framework we adopt,’ he pointed out. ‘It’s OA. It’s very bureaucratic and to some extent, it might even be repressive because there is that element of chilling effect when the Ombudsman himself would make such impositions on the media.’
Arao urged Remulla to reverse this provision in the ruling he released on Tuesday, and beat reporters covering the Ombudsman should also oppose these measures that ‘compromise access to information.’
‘Remulla should rescind and apologize for this unnecessary, bureaucratic and even repressive measure,’ Arao said. ‘He is not tasked to police media content.’
For the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), Remulla’s requirement was ‘unusual,’ but may even be ‘benign’ if it will be used for formal investigations.
‘It’s an unusual requirement, but if the premise is that the Ombudsman will use the stories as leads and tips for its own field investigation units, it might be a benign one,’ NUJP chairperson Jonathan de Santos said.
This may even be a way to validate whether the SALN requested was used for journalistic purposes, he also said, but he stressed what possible implications this policy may do in the future.
‘What would be worrisome is for them to require the reporter to disclose the angles of the story,’ De Santos stressed. ‘So, for now, even if it is unusual, we can acknowledge that this is an opening up of restrictions.’ /cb