Suppression of Information: Legal or Illegal?

Can we as ordinary citizens create our own version of Wikileaks.org and report therein the anomalies of the State and the major corporations?

WikiLeaks is an international non-profit organization working for transparency which publishes news leaks based on their ethical, historical and political significance.  WikiLeaks relates to many policy issues including access to government information, censorship and the blocking of web sites, government secrecy and the over-classification of government information, treatment of whistleblowers, government transparency and the legalities surrounding classified information.  Many organizations agree on the undeniable value that WikiLeaks has had by indicating violations of human rights and civil liberties. Stephen Aftergood, director of Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy comments: "It has invaded personal privacy. It has published libellous material. It has violated intellectual property rights. And above all, it has launched a sweeping attack not simply on corruption, but on secrecy itself. But according to Glenn Greenwald, lawyer and civil rights activist, the amount of corruption which WikiLeaks has exposed is unique in history and there is no other organization that comes close to WikiLeaks regarding exposures of misuse of power. If secrecy of administrative documents is used to cover government misbehavior, especially inhuman conditions and killing of people, there must be legal grounds to overcome formal borders of secrecy. This has seen as a justified way to protect democratic society and citizen against secret arbitrary government power.

With that short discussion about the opinions regarding Wikileaks we can now ask the question: Can we as ordinary citizens create our own version of Wikileaks.org and report therein the anomalies of the State and the major corporations?

          As provided by Section 7 of the Bill of Rights of the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines - “The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized. Access to official records, and to documents, and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions, or decisions, as well as to government research data used as basis for policy development, shall be afforded the citizen, subject to limitations as may be provided by law.”  Section 24 of the State Policy of the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines provides that “The State recognizes the vital role of communication and information in Nation Building”… I think these two provisions are clear with the intentions to give the people the right and freedom to have access to such communications and information but it should be read that it is subject to limitations provided by law.  Not all information can be accessible to the public like those informations  that are classified. Classified information is a sensitive information to which access is restricted by law or regulations to particular group of person created to the furtherance of a better civil society. Information like of  the foreign affairs of the Republic of the Philippines, when its revelation would unduly weaken the negotiating position of the government in an ongoing bilateral or multilateral negotiation or seriously jeopardize the diplomatic relations of the Philippines with one or more states with which it intends to keep friendly relations.   Information pertaining to internal and external defense and law enforcement, when the revelation thereof would render a legitimate military operation ineffective, unduly compromise the prevention, detection or suppression of a criminal activity, or endanger the life or physical safety of confidential or protected sources or witnesses, law enforcement and military personnel or their immediate families is also one of the information regarded as classified. Further, Article II (Declaration of Principles and State Policies), Section 28 also states: “Subject to reasonable conditions prescribed by law, the State adopts and implements a policy of full public disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest.”  BUT if secrecy of administrative documents is used to cover government misbehavior, especially inhuman conditions and killing of people, there must be legal grounds to overcome formal borders of secrecy.