MANILA, Philippines — Following the refusal of Malacañang to release President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), an administration lawmaker has revived calls for Congress to pass a freedom of information (FOI) law.
Quezon City Rep. Alfred Vargas urged his colleagues to enact an FOI law despite Duterte’s Executive Order (EO) No. 2, which was supposed to institute a policy of unhampered access to government data, except those considered sensitive or confidential under the Constitution or existing laws.
In a statement, Vargas said an FOI law “must be legislated,” since any administration following the current one could easily reverse EO No. 2.
He added that the EO “does not and cannot cover other important government institutions like local governments, the legislature, independent constitutional bodies and the judiciary.”
“Coverage of these other government instrumentalities can only be done by an act of Congress,” Vargas said.
In filing House Bill No. 5776, Vargas said he would want to create an FOI mechanism that would allow the release of government data to the public in easily accessible formats to ensure “that researchers and analysts would have a quicker and easier time processing and analyzing data especially with regard to people’s money.”
Vargas said he was referring to a “machine readable format, not JPEG and PDF files,” in making available all statistical data on budgets, appropriations, contracts and the like.
His FOI bill also includes the creation of an Information Commission to oversee the FOI’s implementation and enforcement, he added.
Early in his administration, Duterte sought to institute FOI as official policy through EO No. 2, with the launch of an electronic portal that would process FOI requests by the public.
The executive order mandates the full disclosure of information in all offices under the executive branch, except those falling under the exceptions enshrined in the Constitution or existing laws and jurisprudence.
Critics have argued that the listed exceptions to the FOI were too broad and that executive action was not enough as the next administration might opt to dispense with the EO in the absence of an enabling law.
The President recently came under fire for reportedly blocking access to his 2018 SALN despite repeated requests by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, which said that he was the first Philippine president in 30 years not to publicly disclose the document.
Aside from Vargas’ bill, several FOI measures have been filed since the start of the 18th Congress. All are pending approval at the House public information committee.