Palace optimistic on ratification of Freedom of Information Act

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is optimistic that members of the House of Representatives will ratify the long-pending Freedom of Information Act, whose immediate enactment into law is being sought by international and local groups.

Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza said yesterday there is no need for President Arroyo to formally request her allies in Congress to ratify the bill as they are already aware of her support for the measure.

“I think there are so many proponents for this bill so it’s for these congressmen to deliver on their commitments (to ratify the Freedom of Information Act),” Mendoza told a news briefing.

Meanwhile, the Right to Know Right Now! Coalition called on Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr. and all congressmen to attend their last session day tomorrow to ratify the measure as “a conscience vote for democracy and the Filipino people.”

In a press statement, the coalition said that amid the vigorous clamor from the bill’s authors as well as from various sectors for the passage of FOI, the fate of the measure now depends on the lawmakers’ fidelity to their Constitutional duties.

“Will the House renege on its duty and betray its oath to serve the people and uphold democracy?” Nepomuceno Malaluan, coalition spokesperson, said.

Tomorrow is the last session day before the 14th Congress adjourns sine die.

“The 14th Congress has neither moral nor legal reason or argument to pass on such duty to the next Congress,” Malaluan said.

Last May 31, senators issued Senate Resolution 1565 urging the House to ratify the measure immediately, saying the two chambers had finished their Bicameral Conference Committee Report on a harmonized version titled “The Freedom of Information Act of 2009.”

“The passage of the Freedom of Information Act is important in order to fully exercise our Constitutional right to information… and bring forth a law that will empower our people and contribute decisively to the transformation of our governance landscape,” the Senate Resolution read.

Last May 24, Nograles and House leaders promised to tackle motions by the authors to ratify the measure, arguing that the House was at the time performing its constitutional duty to convene jointly with the Senate as the National Board of Canvassers so the next president and vice president may soon be proclaimed.

Nograles then promised to include the measure in the agenda of the House, when it resumed session last May 31.

However, Nograles and Majority Floor Leader Arthur Defensor allowed the session to proceed for only 10 seconds.

Motions to ratify the bill raised by the authors, led by Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr., chair of the House committee on public information, were virtually muzzled. The microphones were even turned off.

“What happened was clearly one of the lowest forms of chicanery by the House leaders, a most atypical situation that should not have happened in the august halls of Congress,” Malaluan said.

Nograles has repeatedly told reporters that the FOI Act remains his personal “priority” but that his concern is how to muster a quorum on Friday.

However, Abante himself pointed out that on numerous occasions already, the House had approved and ratified numerous bills even without a quorum.

He noted that at least 181 House members, including Nograles, are co-authors of the bill, even as 197 lawmakers passed the House version on third reading in May 2008.

Malaluan said Nograles would keep his promise to have the measure ratified tomorrow.

“This is not about ‘the mood of Congress’ or his own predisposition after he lost his bid for mayor in the last elections,” Malaluan said.

“Neither is this about loyalty to an outgoing president, or a supposed lack of time to ratify the bill.”

“Before his conscience and the Constitution, the one true obligation that Nograles must perform is this: The right to know is the people’s Constitutional right, and it is the Constitutional duty of Nograles and the House members to pass the FOI Act,” he said.

“Should he fail the people and spurn his promise a third time, the people will certainly remember,” Malaluan said. – With Paolo Romero