Officials want 18th Congress to prioritize passage of FOI Bill

MANILA, Philippines — Communications Secretary Martin Andanar is hoping that members of the 18th Congress will prioritize the passage of the proposed Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, a bill that mandates full disclosure of official public government records.

“We need a partner for this in Congress and the Senate. So we’re praying they take action towards making this a law,” he said in Filipino.

Andanar said he wants  to strengthen the practice of transparency by allowing the public access to government transactions and documents. This also aims to eliminate incidences of corruption in government offices.

In a radio interview, Andanar noted the FOI, if passed into law, will grant access to public records not only in the executive branch but in the legislative and judiciary branches as well.

Andanar said they implemented Executive Order 2,  which is the government’s policy of “full public disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest, subject to reasonable conditions prescribed by law,” signed by President Duterte prior to his first State of the Nation Address in 2016. This FOI mechanism, however, only applies to the executive branch.

“This Executive Order is very important because it made our national government and executive branch very transparent,” he added.

The FOI bill was one of the priority measures of the administration that was approved by the House but failed to hurdle the Senate in the 17th Congress due to lack of time.

Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the Senate public information committee, has refiled the FOI bill, citing the importance of transparency and accountability in government.

Rep. Raul del Mar of Cebu City also filed a counterpart FOI measure, House Bill 12, that seeks to put in place the enabling law necessary to implement the constitutional provision on the right of the people to information on matters of public concerns.

The 18th Congress starts tomorrow.

“Transparency is essential to accountability. Without transparency, citizens cannot access the information needed to collectively discern the fitness of public officials, elected or otherwise, to hold public office,” Poe said in the explanatory note of her bill.

“I appeal to our colleagues to give this bill one big push this 18th Congress so we will finally have an FOI law,” She added.

Under her proposal, Poe said all government agencies will be mandated to upload on their respective websites “updated copies of transactions, records or documents of public interest.”

The bill states that no request for information shall be denied, except for matters involving national security, law enforcement, foreign affairs and trade secrets.

All information exempted from disclosure shall undergo mandatory review every three years by the head of office or agency in custody or control of the information for “reclassification and possible disclosure.”

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Assistant Secretary and FOI Program Management Office director Kristian Ablan also joined Andanar in the call to hit the ground running so that the FOI bill will be enacted into law by 2020.

Currently, the PCOO said all national government agencies are 100 percent FOI-compliant.