On protecting whistleblowers

CHEERS TO ABS-CBN 2’s Failon Ngayon for not letting the public forget the plight of whistleblowers and reviewing the capacity of the Witness Protection Program (WPP) of the Department of Justice to do what it’s supposed to do–to protect witnesses. (September 13)

Failon Ngayon looked back at the lives of people who have exposed illegal activities and corruption in government. Among the whistleblowers featured were Clarissa Ocampo, a witness during former President Joseph Estrada’s impeachment trial; Sandra Cam, a witness in the jueteng payola scandal; George Rabusa, who exposed the AFP “pabaon” scandal; Heidi Mendoza, who documented AFP fund anomalies; and, Jun Lozada, who blew the whistle on the ZTE-NBN deal.

The program included interviews with Cam, Rabusa, and Lozada on how their exposes changed their lives and their experience while under WPP protection. They also shared their frustrations with the government, emphasizing that their revelations did not help change the system.

The program also presented their views on Benhur Luy et al., the whistleblowers in the pork barrel scam and the Malampaya scam.

In the end, the program concluded that whistleblowers need better protection and argued for the passage of the “Whistleblowers Act,” which would extend the security and benefits of people who testify against graft and corruption in the government. The proposed bill will also protect the whistleblowers from retaliation and assure protection to whistleblowers who are also guilty of the crime they are testifying on.