FOI backers: Never say die
By Leila B. Salaverria
The defeat of the freedom of information (FOI) bill in the House of Representatives does not mean the measure is already dead and buried, according to its authors.
The defeat of the freedom of information (FOI) bill in the House of Representatives does not mean the measure is already dead and buried, according to its authors.
Partylist Rep. Teodoro Casiño said President Aquino’s delivery of the keynote address in the anticorruption forum in Davos would be hollow without a real Freedom of Information (FOI) law being enacted.
Declaring foreign currency deposits as required in the new Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) form may not be a good idea for government officials and employees, a veteran tax collector claimed Saturday.
Youth advocates seeking transparency in government urged Friday the House of Representatives to pass the Freedom of Information Bill.
The consolidated version of 15 bills on the freedom of information was approved Monday by the House committee on public information.
Quezon Representative Lorenzo Tañada III, the principal proponent of the Freedom of Information Bill, on Tuesday said that he remained confident President Benigno Aquino III would like the measure passed during his term.
Lawmakers pushing to repeal the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 have filed a measure seeking transparency in bicameral conference committee meetings, saying that it was during these talks that the contentious provisions on the new law were inserted.
There is enough support to put the freedom of information (FOI) bill to a vote at the committee level even without having to hold a caucus of House leaders to discuss its contentious points, backers of the measure in and out of Congress said Monday.
The process in selecting the next chief justice should be transparent, Senator Teofisto Guingona III on Friday said.
Some incumbent justices of the Supreme Court may have hurt their chances of becoming the next Chief Justice when they allowed the high tribunal’s system of keeping their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth under lock and key.
The looming infringement on an official’s privacy appears to be the reason behind the Senate’s plan to request the Civil Service Commission to defer the implementation of a new form of statement of assets, liabilities and net worth that government employees are required to submit yearly.
How lawmakers use their priority development assistance fund, PDAF, or the congressional euphemism for pork barrel, isn’t on the list of public-interest documents that the Aquino administration’s version of the Freedom of Information Bill would require to be disclosed on government Web sites.
Malacañang’s much-ballyhooed Freedom of Information Bill is nothing but a watered-down version of the FOI measures pending in Congress, Bayan Muna party-list Representative Teddy Casiño said Saturday.
