Is the government withholding information?
§ The government says it has provided as much information as it can without violating laws and proprietary rights. DOTC even ran newspaper ads and was sued by the opposition for discussing the subject of its High Court petition to void the ZTE deal. § Due to the opposition suit, the government was reluctant to discuss the project even in Congress, and the opposition repeatedly accused it of hiding the truth. Eventually, Neri, Mendoza, former CICT chairman Ramon Sales, and Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya appeared in marathon Senate hearings, plus an executive session with Neri. § Executive privilege and proprietary rights restricted some of the information from the government. As the Senate refused to do for its own executive session with Neri, the government does not disclose confidential discussions of the President and the Cabinet. This executive privilege also cloaks Supreme Court deliberations and Congress executive sessions, to allow full, free and unfettered discussions in shapin
