QUEZON CITY (MindaNews / 30 January) — What is a “whistleblower”? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as “one who reveals something covert or who informs against another especially: an employee who brings wrongdoing by an employer or by other employees to the attention of a government or law enforcement agency.”
Whistleblowers have been the subject of many movies, like Karen Silkwood (a chemical technician at a Kerr-Mcgee nuclear plant who speaks out about the unsafe work conditions in her workplace); Erin Brokowich (who built a legal case against a major California utility contaminating communities with chromium and endangering the health of more than 600 families); Edward Snowden (who revealed classified government surveillance programs used to spy on millions of Americans though their own emails, phone calls and webcams). And who can forget the “Me Too” movement that has led to conviction of power movie producer Harvey Weinstein?
In the Philippines, we have our own whistleblowers: Krizle Grace Mago, who revealed that Pharmally Pharmaceuticals Corp. sold to government damaged face shields with tampered dates of production. She seems to have disappeared. There is Thorrsson Montes Keith, who resigned from the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), testifying in a Senate investigation about P15 billion in PhilHealth funds “stolen” by a “syndicate” within the firm. Remember Jun Lozada and the $329 million national broadband network contract with Chinese...
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says his unfounded claim that Coun. Sean Orr distributed illegal drugs didn't damage his reputation, because Orr's own previous statements showed he "supported drug use." S...