This post was originally supposed to be a summary of the proceedings at the first plenary sessions of Congress this year, wherein our intrepid lawmakers would be making their opening sponsorship speeches for the consolidated RH Bill on the floor of the House of Representatives Plenary Hall. Indeed, the efforts of our fellow Freethinkers (most recently during the historic Memorial March For Mothers at the CBCP compound) have greatly contributed to the Bill getting this far. No amount of earnest advocacy, however, could keep the Hall’s aging A/C system from giving up the ghost and causing Congress to cancel its plenary session of the day, presumably to spare innocent eyes from the sight of stained barong tagalogs sticking to sweaty congressional armpits.
While on the way to the ensuing RHAN mobilization in support of the Bill outside the plenary-hall-turned-megasauna, Red and I got a call for a last minute guest interview to be hosted by former Senator Dick Gordon on his new political talk show. After diverting to the TV station, meeting with him and being cared for by his friendly staff, we were then politely and regretfully informed that the interview would be postponed.
It was fortunate then that the man sharing the studio holding area with us was both gregarious and gracious enough to agree to a spur of the moment mini-interview for the benefit of your general enlightenment on another piece of legislation that we think is also pretty vital for the state of the nation today. Allow me to introduce Honorable Representative Erin Tanada, principal author of the Freedom of Information Bill:
