WANT TO CLAIM your right to know? Then go, run for it!
Prep up and get shirts and sneakers ready for “Tanglaw Run for Freedom of Information” on October 4, Saturday, starting at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila. Rise and shine early because the run begins at 5 a.m.
This advocacy run is a project of the Federation of Alumni Associations in PUP, Inc. (FEDAAPI) in coordination with the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition.
Its first goal: draw 30,000 racers who will take part in a simultaneous run at the Quirino Grandstand and in nine Luzon provinces where 16 of the 22 branches and campuses of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) are located. Other than the run, the event intends to generate more than 30,000 signatures for the FOI bill.
Its second goal: raise resources for the FEDAAPI Scholarship Fund and other alumni-related projects of the PUP, the country’s largest and first polytechnic university.
Individual registration fee is pegged at P250 for students and P350 for faculty members, alumni, and guests. Registered runners will each receive a “Tanglaw Run 2014″ singlet and race bib.
For registration and other inquiries, contact the FEDAAPI at (02) 354-4841 or 0928-5502852.
Now on its third year, “Tanglaw Run” is an annual advocacy run of FEDAAPI.
Each year, the run is dedicated to an advocacy issue from a diverse range of issues.
“For this year, we have been choosing from different issues for our advocacy such as good governance and human rights, and then we thought that these issues can be affected by the FOI, if it is passed,” said Reynaldo de Guzman, FEDAAPI board member and “Tanglaw Run 2014″ chairman.
FEDAAPI believes, he said, that FOI “would pave the way for transparency and accountability in government, which shall inevitably result in better fiscal management and improve provision of government social services.”
The first “Tanglaw Run” in 2012 centered on the protection of the environment. A total of 4,800 runners joined. In 2013,”Tanglaw Run” focused on higher education and drew 21,650 runners.
This year, about 30,000 runners are expected to participate in “Tanglaw Run for Freedom of Information” at simultaneous runs at the Quirino Granstand in Manila and in Batangas, Bataan, Bulacan, Camarines Sur, Cavite, Laguna, Mindoro, Nueva Ecija, and Quezon provinces where PUP has branches and campuses.
Atty. Nepomuceno Malaluan, co-convenor of the Right to Know. Right Now! Coalition encouraged the members of the coalition and other FOI supporters to participate in Tanglaw Run 2014 — Fernando Cabigao Jr., PCIJ