CAPITOL MEMO: GAG ON INFO?

Radio blocktimer’s request for consultant’s contract denied

A radio block-timer’s request for a certified copy of a Capitol consultant was turned down last September.

The incident was discussed yesterday in the Cebu Provincial Board (PB), where some members questioned the Davide administration’s new policy in a Nov. 8 memo restricting access to public documents by requiring a written request.

“I brought this up because there is a danger that if we go on with it, we will deny outright the right of the public to information,” said PB Member Arleigh Sitoy.

The request of Oscar Pasaporte, who was then anchorman of radio dyCM and is now with radio dyRF, was an offshoot of the status of a female casual worker related to him, according to Capitol sources.

Provincial Administrator Mark Tolentino, who was invited to the regular PB session to explain the status of two other pending consultancy contracts worth P58 million, said he was aware of the “backlash” the refusal would cause.

He said he respects the freedom of information, but after being attacked on air by Pasaporte, who also hit two other officials, he said there had to be “limits.”

“I’m really just guided by this. We have to strike a balance. My only intention is to protect the institution,” said Tolentino, a lawyer and trusted aide of Gov. Hilario Davide III.

Pasaporte wrote the administrator two months ago asking for a “certified true copy”of the consultancy contract of Rocelyn Zosa, who he described as the OIC of two departments, the Provincial Social Welfare and Development (PSWD) and Human Resources Management Office (HRMO).

Pasaporte, in his letter dated Sept. 23, said this document was “for the benefit of truth, fairness, and accuracy for the public through my daily radio program VIGILANTE over dyCM.”

His request was turned down by Tolentino in a letter one week later.

Tolentino wrote to Pasaporte saying that he “has regularly been making defamatory remarks against Ms. Zosa, Mr. Jone Sepe, and myself over your radio program.”

“I am advised that your follow-up requests on this reply have been made in “a very arrogant and threatening manner and that you have even been bragging that you would be attacking Ms. Zosa, Mr. Sepe and me in your radio program today.”

With this, “it is clear that you have no other intention than to use the document you have requested for no other purpose than to further malign Mrs. Zosa, and quit possibly, Mr. Sepe and myself.”

From Capitol sources, it was learned that Pasaporte’s wife, a casual employee in the Governor’s Office, was about to lose her job due to performance issues. In October, her 6-month contract was not renewed. However, she was later rehired as a casual of the office of the Cebu vice governor.

This background was not mentioned in the PB discussion yesterday although several legislators were familiar with the prior conflict.

The anchorman’s spurned request for a document targeted Zosa, an executive assistant in the Governor’s Office since May this year and is OIC of the PSWD.

Before that, Zosa was project manager of a team of eight consultants engaged by the Province of Cebu in 2014, to review programs, activities , planning and personnel under a P1.2 million contract with the Development and Consulting Group Inc. approved by the PB.

“If there’s nothing to hide, why should we be afraid? There are remedies to derogatory remarks. You can go to court and sue for that,” PB Member Sitoy told Tolentino.

Sitoy said the only way the matter can be solved is by doing away with the policy of denying the public the right to access information based on “assumptions”.

Sitoy stopped short of asking for a recall of the Nov. 8 memo, but asked the the administrator “to think about it” again.

Sitoy, a former administration ally, left the Liberal Party in October to run for mayor in Cordova town, where the LP is supporting his half-sister for the same post.

“There was a precedent,” replied Tolentino.

“This media personality had been attacking Ms. Zosa, myself, and Mr. Sepe many times over a period of several days, several weeks in fact.”

Tolentino, a lawyer, said he had reflected on the matter “many times” and was aware of the backlash he would get for his decision in this case.

Both Tolentino and the Provincial Board agreed that the case was already “closed.”

GWEN’S MEMO

( Read : Capitol restricts release of documents )

Access to public documents in the Capitol came under new rules earlier this month with a Nov. 9 memo issued by Tolentino.

It reminded all officials, department heads and employees of a 2010 memo issued by the Office of the Governor during Gwen Garcia’s term setting guidelines for “giving information and access to official records including the furnishing of copies.”

Each request must be made in writing, stating the purpose. Release needs written approval of the department head, and all documents released must be reported to the Office of the Governor.

Tolentino confirmed that a prior policy was set by former governor Garcia but that it required approval by the Provincial Legal Office.

This time, Tolentino added, under policies released in June 2015, during Davide’s administration, the Capitol did away with requiring the PLO to give approval.

“But we have left it to the discretion of the respective department or office heads,” he said.

Tolentino said he respects the freedom of information, but that there are also limits.

PB Member Grecilda Sanchez, in her comment, recalled how she was denied Capitol documents by department heads when she was still a private citizen asking for papers related to the usurpation case that eventually led to the suspension of former governor Garcia in 2012.

“The letter was simply a request for a copy of a contract. To me, that is legitimate. There is nothing wrong with a contract. I do not know the reason it should have been simply denied,” she said since this is a public document.

“A consultancy contract shouldn’t be interpreted by the possibility of using it for maligning, but by the content itself.

If there’s maligning, with our without the contract, it can actually be done,” said Sanchez.

PB Member Celestino “Tining” Martinez III, whose relatives manage radio dyCM, said he has already spoken to Pasaporte. He said he understood Tolentino’s situation that his reply to the radioman was borne out of emotion.

“For Mark who is not familiar with ways of how everything works, that probably resulted in the letter,” said

Martinez. After the encounter, Pasaporte transferred to radio dyRF.

Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, presiding officer, said she had to include the Pasaporte case in the agenda to accommodate the request of a former ally, Sitoy.