iv. Other Government Officials and Employees

Public Officers

Requisites:

• The communication must have been made to a public officer;
• The communication was made in official confidence; and
• Public interest would suffer by the disclosure of the information

Public interest means more than a mere curiosity; it means something in which the public, the community at large, has some pecuniary interest by which their legal rights or liabilities are affected. It does not mean anything so narrow as to interest the particular localities which may be affected by the matters in question (Banco Filipino v. Monetary Board, G.R. No. L-70054, 1986).

This privilege is intended not for the protection of public officers but for the protection of public interest. Where there is no public interest that would be prejudiced, this invoked rule will not be applicable (Banco Filipino v. Monetary Board, G.R. No. L70054, 1986).

What is usually referred to as informer’s privilege is in reality the government’s privilege to withhold from disclosure the identity of persons who furnish information of violations of laws to officers charged with enforcement of that law. (People v. Ong, G.R. No. 137348, 2004)

The privilege under Section 24, Rule 130 is intended not for the protection of public officers but for the protection of public interest. Where there is no public interest that would be prejudiced, this rule will not be applicable. The rule that a public officer cannot be examined as to communications made to him in official confidence does not apply when there is nothing to show that the public interest would suffer by the disclosure. (Banco Filipino v. Monetary Board, G.R. No. 70054, 1986)

When the ground for asserting the privilege as to subpoenaed materials sought for use in a criminal trial is based only on the generalized interest in confidentiality, unsupported by a claim of the need to protect military, diplomatic or sensitive national security secrets, it cannot prevail against a demonstrated, specific need for the documents/recordings needed and over the fundamental demands of due process of law in the administration of criminal justice. The generalized assertion of the privilege must yield to the demonstrated need for evidence in a pending criminal trial. (U.S. vs. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 1974)