Freedom of Information bill to be taken up in July — Honasan

Senator Gringo Honasan

MANILA,  Philippines — Despite the Senate’s  failure to pass the People’s Ownership of Government Information (POGI) bill (formerly called the Freedom of Information bill) before adjourning for sine die on Wednesday, Senator Gregorio Honasan II remained confident that the bill will be taken up when session resumes in July.

During the Kapihan sa Senado media forum, Honasan, who is the chairman of the committee on public information and mass media, said that he is “happy with the pace” of the passing of the bill which is in the period of interpellation in the Senate while they await the House version.

“I hope when session resumes after SONA (State-of-the-Nation Address) in July, or the last Monday of July, [we will be able to deliberate on it]. I’m confident that we will do this as expeditiously as possible,” he said.

Honasan said that Senator Allan Peter Cayetano will also deliver his co-sponsorship speech for the POGI bill.

The bill has been pending in the Senate for several months after they had to wait for the Malacañang version of the measure, Honasan said.

The Senator explained that the bill was probably not given enough attention and priority by Malacañang.

“In fact this has never been certified as urgent so that’s what we are asking for: to identify the national priorities so we would know [what to tackle first],” Honasan told reporters.

Nevertheless, Honasan said that they have received the Palace version and has consolidated their amendments with the Senate’s version.

“If this not listed as a priority, we understand why Malacañang is not keen on this but now that we have reconciled certain areas of disagreement I think  this will be expedited,” he said.

Among the improvements in the consolidated version is the omission of the “information commission” which Honasan said “is just another layer to prolong the process of giving our people the information that they want.”

The newly renamed POGI bill, aims to improve the transparency and accountability in government. Honasan defended the change of the name from FOI to POGI, which is wordplay on the local slang term for handsome.

“The Freedom of Information limits itself. Its foundation is the people’s ownership of government information, because the government is for the people, by the people and of the people. So all pieces of information kept by the government are owned by the people,” Honasan said.

The Senate adjourned sine die on its second regular session for the 15th Congress  late Wednesday and is scheduled to resume its third regular session on July 23.