Nice try, Florin Hilbay

In a democracy, we can all theoretically push ideas and changes we want to see happen. It is with this kind of ideal in mind, that I read thru Florin Hilbay’s recommendation to create (yet another) government body called the ‘Institute for the Integrity of Information”. Hilbay says:

“The way to counter-balance government disinformation is through the creation of a public institution whose sole task is to identify and publicize government dishonesty. When public officials become dishonest, it is the obligation of the State itself to correct distortions in the marketplace of ideas.

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“I propose that Congress enact a statute creating the Institute for the Integrity of Information, a sort of Ombudsman for public information provided by government, or an information police for government officials. What are the main features of the Institute for the Integrity of Information?

1) It should be composed of a board whose members are academics, media practitioners, policymakers, scientists, information technology experts of the highest credibility and competence.

2) They should not be appointed by the President or by any of his alter egos. In my opinion, this can be done without violating the Appointments Clause under Article VII, Sec. 16 of the Constitution.

3) Its function is four-fold:

• To create standards for verifying information provided by government.

• To actually verify information provided by government.

• To publicize its findings.

• To issue rewards to citizens who are able to spot fake information provided by public officials.

With all due respect, this is a bull crap proposal. Mr. Hilbay, this mechanism already exists. It’s called “the press”. It is their duty to fact check what government says. There are also NGOs that can, and already do, this sort of thing. Lately, social media has also been very effective in quickly exposing mistakes or misrepresentations.

Your proposed insitute sounds like (yet another) body that will be used for political attacks on the administration. It will be a vehicle for the opposition to launch information attacks on the incumbent, whoever he or she is.

Parang nakikita ko na kung sino ang members ng institute na ito: 1) Ellen Tordesillas, 2) Karen Davila, 3) Randy David, 4) A bishop; and of course, 5) Florin Hilbay.

These continued attempts to have the last say on information is just another transparent attempt to control minds and play politics. Ultimately, the people decide for themselves what is true and what is not. If this does not agree with your “truth”, then tough. Maybe that is why they didn’t vote for your side.

12 Replies to “Nice try, Florin Hilbay”

  1. These idiots, try to control the minds of people. They want to control, the way people think.

    Who are these people ? They are mostly running dogs of politicians.

    The Information Technology is here. The World Wide Web is here. The Social Media and the Twitter are here. All these advanced technological infrastructures, work in HyperSpace or CyberSpace.

    We have already advanced in this area of technology. Every six month, a new technology is introduced in this area of field. You cannot stop it. Unless, you ban researchers in this field of technology, from researching in every country …

    These people only show their ignorance, on Science of Information Technology !

  2. Sablay si Hiblay

    He had no idea what he’s talking about. It’s more like an “information control” scheme for the stupid opposition.

  3. So they want to add more useless government agencies that waste the people’s tax money. They already got Rappler, Inquirer, ABS-CBN, and GMA, you can add in those bloggers who get a lot of ad money and those who do it for free.

  4. Legislation won’t root out corruption. The only legislation that is worthwhile is that which removes protection from civil servants and which allows bodies to investigate in any area without impediment.s

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