Sound of silence: A constitutional discourse on the registration requirements under the Lobbying Accountability Act

• Main Author: Abdulrahman, Johanne D.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2015
• Subjects: Lobbying > Law and legislation > Philippines; Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/2801
• Institution: De La Salle University

In the Philippines, trust in the government is constantly being demoted as the country spikes up corruption levels in the public sector. However, corruption in governance is known to be a two-way street which is either public-to-public or public-to-private which may involve lobbying in both instances. Miriam Defensor-Santiago gave rise to the Senate Bil 393 or the Lobbying Accountability Act with the purpose of regulating lobbying practices given the right of the government to prevent such malicious acts especially in the public sector. Also in conflict with the said bill is the international right to political participation which grants every person in a country signatory to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights because it possibly hampers the right to involve oneself in the governance of his country. More so, lobbying being a constitutional right of a person to freedom of expression, imposing a mandate on its exercise may prove to be at the disadvantage of the civil society which is invalid. The author would also consider such factors imminent in the country which may affect the welfare of people such as those in the informal sector. Expression would be troublesome even for the slightest of concern by the public. Concurrently, jurisprudence in the Philippines has shown, however, that imposing restraints may be deemed valid provided that it falls under a content-neutral restriction. In this context, the researcher will furthermore delve into what constitutes a valid restraint on the right of a person to express himself to the government official and determine whether this bill taints the value of expression in a democratic country. Lobbying is prevalent in the Philippines since the downfall of the authoritarian regime of Marcos. With the rising of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, lobbying is established as a freedom to express oneself to his government official pursuant to the adaptation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution which expressly protects lobbying under the same provision.