The Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) is opening its floodgates—digitally. Soon, the commission will livestream its proceedings, bowing to public pressure for transparency that has swelled louder than the floods the controversial infrastructure projects failed to contain.
But in yielding to the demand for openness, the ICI must now navigate a trickier current: how to keep the proceedings fair while ensuring they are not swept away by online noise, misinterpretation, or digital grandstanding.
The struggle between the public’s right to know and individuals’ right to fairness is an old duel—older, in fact, than livestreams and hashtags.
Back in September 1959, Judge Arsenio Solidum of Manila’s Court of First Instance—now the Regional Trial Court—issued a warning as he spoke before the WILOCI, the women lawyers group of the University of the Philippines’ College of Law, that still rings true:
“And while every one should recognize the tremendous service of our enterprising free press in vigilantly exposing wrong-doing and corruption, in aiding the detection of the guilty and in throwing the limelight of publicity on matters affecting the government and its administration, in its enthusiasm, it should not attempt to deprive a man of a fair trial which is a dangerous and deadly thing to do.”
Back then, as they are still now, the press had bounds. Today, social media influencers are boundless—and their comment sections even more so.
ICI Executive Director Brian Keith Hosaka, a former Supreme Court official, said the commission is now “studying and drafting the rules of procedure and parameters to allow for live streaming, taking into consideration sensitive information and the constitutional rights of invited resource persons.”
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian offered a human touch of caution: “These are commissioners—they’re human too—and if there’s already a public watching, their demeanor or approach might change.”
And the resource persons, ever mindful that today’s witnesses could be tomorrow’s defendants, might suddenly find their tongues tied—invoking their right against self-incrimination faster than a live comment can go viral.
The ICI’s livestream could yet bring sunlight to murky waters—or just more waves to an already turbulent tide.
