Honasan: Certify FOI bill as urgent

Senator Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan, chairman of the Senate committee on public information, called on the House to prioritize its version of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill and suggested that President Aquino certify the transparency measure as “urgent.”

The Senate passed the measure on second reading on Tuesday but the House version has yet to be submitted to the plenary as the head of the House committee on public information, Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, went on a trip abroad last week.

“I think this bill is worthy of being certified as urgent. There are so many landmark pieces of legislation that are now on our table. It would be good timing,” Honasan said.

The FOI bill, whose passage was a campaign promise of President Aquino, would adopt a policy of full public disclosure of transactions involving the public interest, subject to certain limitations such as information relating to national security, foreign policy, discussions on policy formulation, a person’s privacy and that which will endanger a person’s safety.

Senate Bill No. 3208, or the People’s Ownership of Government Information Act,—also referred to as the “Pogi bill”— spells out the mechanisms for mandatory disclosure of government information, both automatic and upon request, and provides penalties for officials who deny the public access to information without due cause.

On the other hand, the House version was reported out of the committee on public information only last week and has yet to be discussed in the plenary.

Evardone yesterday said he was unable to submit the committee report last Wednesday as he had initially planned because he was out of the country.

He was also unable to preside over the committee hearing last Tuesday, where the members approved the report, because of his overseas trip for “a United Nations affair.”

The committee report will only be submitted to the rules committee today.

Once Evardone submits the FOI bill report to the rules committee, it would be scheduled for introdution to the plenary through his sponsorship speech.

Majority Floor Leader Neptali Gonzales II said the bill was unlikely to be tackled on Monday because that day would be devoted to the third reading vote on the reproductive health (RH) bill, which has been certified as urgent by President Aquino. Norman Bordadora and Leila Salaverria