Solons: You lose a degree of privacy upon entry into public service

MANILA – Lawmakers from the House of Representatives on Wednesday said serving in the public sector entails surrendering a certain degree of privacy.

This was the lawmakers' reaction to Vice President Sara Duterte's claim that her security was compromised after a photo of her was taken at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 when she left for Germany at the height of Typhoon Carina.

Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said while he supports any proposal to tighten security in public places, you may lose some degree of privacy once an individual enters into government service.

"Once you enter into public service, you somehow surrender a certain degree of privacy, unfortunately. And that's been the problem not only of one individual public official but it is actually shared by all of us," Adiong said in a press conference.

Adiong said there is a "very thin line" separating a public official's personal and public lives.

"Once you do enter into this kind of service, you automatically – deliberately or not – share your life to the public and the public will also enjoy a certain, I don't know if it's imaginative, a certain power over you, that whatever you do, either publicly or privately, they tend to feel that they have a right to know everything that you do," he said.

Deputy Majority Leader Janette Garin noted that the airport is a public place and Duterte is a public official.

Garin said having the Vice President's photo taken at the airport is but a natural consequence of her entry to public service.

"If we need to beef up security, it's because if there are threats or we need to secure the area because we have more tourist coming into the Philippines and not because a certain individual got a photo," Garin said.

"These are part and parcel of the risk we face as government employees and government officials. I myself, with due courtesy to the vice president, wouldn't blame the setup of the airport because it's a public place," she added.

1-Rider Rep. Rodge Gutierrez said even private persons cannot expect much about privacy in a public place such as an airport.

"It's a public place, we can't really expect much privacy. We can't expect privacy as private persons, paano pa kaya (what more) as public officials?" Gutierrez said.

Garin, meanwhile, cautioned against premature speculation that the findings of the Commission on Audit (COA) regarding the Vice President's confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) might be used as a ground for impeachment.

Garin said the intention behind the House appropriations committee's move to subpoena COA's findings was primarily to ensure proper safeguards for the allocation of confidential funds.

"Let's cross the bridge when it comes. Sa pananaw ko, ang intention ay hindi na maulit kung saka-sakali meron talagang misuse ng confidential fund (In my opinion, the intention is to not repeat the misuse of confidential funds if ever such thing occurred)" Garin said.

Adiong also stressed that there is no indication so far that these COA findings would lead to an impeachment process, noting that House panel's move to subpoena these findings is part of the regular budgeting process.

He said focusing on the impeachment process without clear grounds would undermine the significant legislative work being done in Congress.

"Impeachment is not only divisive but also counterproductive," Adiong said. "It counters the things that we do here in the House of Representatives. We are aiming to really push for the progress of our country, economically, socially, and in terms of peace and order." (PNA)