Kaya Natin!

We, the leaders of the Kaya Natin! Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership would like to express our support to broadcast journalist Che-Che Lazaro in the wiretapping case filed against her by Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) Vice-President for Communications, Ella Valencerina.

While we agree that it is the right of every citizen to protect his or her private life, it is also the duty of government officials and leaders to practice full transparency and accountability especially in issues of public interest particularly the use of public funds.

We also question the use of government lawyers by Ms. Valencerina, given that the case that she has filed is a personal case and not that of the GSIS. These lawyers are being paid for by the Filipino people’s hard earned taxpayers’ money thus, they should not be used to promote personal interests of government officials.

We believe that should this case against Ms. Lazaro prosper, this will be yet another major blow to our country’s fight for the right to information of every Filipino and the respect of press freedom.

Finally, we believe that instead of harassing our journalists and media practitioners, our government leaders should focus its efforts on investigating and resolving the bigger issue at hand which is the alleged irregularities in the use of GSIS funds that should have been allotted and used for the benefits of our hard-working and dedicated public school teachers.

Kaya Natin! continues to believe in the integrity of Ms. Lazaro as a very credible journalist that continues to bring to light issues that concern national and public interest. We also encourage other institutions, organizations and individuals who continue to believe in the importance of transparency and social accountability in our government to also issue statements of support to Ms. Lazaro.