Truth Telling and other Perils in “Democratic” Philippines 219 Responding to this decision, then President Corazon Aquino issued Executive Order 200, which provided that the publication of laws may also be made in a newspaper of general circulation as well as the Ofcial Gazette. The Administrative Code of 1987 also provides in Book VII, Chapter 2, Section 3 that every agency “shall le with the University of the Philippines Law Center three certied copies of every rule adopted by it.“ The Center is in turn required to publish these rules. In 1993, President Fidel Ramos issued Executive Order 89 requiring national government agencies to adopt procedures for the public and government agencies to follow when they receive requests for government data and information. There is also a Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Ofcials and Employees (RA 6713) that requires public employees to respond within 15 days to letters and routine requests sent by the public. In practice, government agencies may be said to be generally cooperative in providing information to the media. Most ofcials are either extremely accessible to the media or actively seek media coverage. In addition to this accessibility, a vast system of public information regularly churns out press releases, instigates press conferences and leaks “information“ of varying degrees of reliability to the Philippine media. There are advantages and disadvantages in such situations. Among the latter is the uncritical use of government press releases as well as the publication of leaked information without checking its accuracy or even considering the motives of the sources. Inevitably, given the aggressive coverage by the Philippine media, ofcials such as former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo have tried to limit access simply by refusing to talk to the media at all. At one point during her presidency, Mrs. Corazon Aquino also imposed a dress code on journalists covering the Presidency, violations of which deprived the offender of the right to be in her presence. She also refused to hold regular press briengs during the latter days of her term. During his detention on charges of plunder, former President Joseph Estrada limited access to his person by being available only to some media practitioners and media organizations. During his incumbency (1998-2001), Mr. Estrada relied on his spokesperson to brief the media, foregoing press conferences altogether. His predecessor, Fidel V. Ramos, on the other hand made himself generally accessible through press conferences and briengs, and at one point even through breakfasts, lunches and dinners with selected journalists, a practice which to some observers seemed to be an attempt to guarantee favorable coverage. Mrs. Arroyo used the same approach, inviting journalists to lunch or dinner, or visiting their ofces and serving them lunch or dinner, and even appointing them to government posts. In 2002, Mrs. Arroyo appointed several columnists from Manila newspapers to government-controlled corporations that included