Freedom of info bill not a Palace priority

The Freedom of Information (FOI) bill will not be among the priority measures President Benigno Aquino III will present to Congress leaders on Tuesday (today) in the second Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) meeting in Malacañang.

It was also not certain if the controversial reproductive health (RH) bill pending in the House and Senate would make the cut as Palace officials said the final list of priority measures was still being firmed up at press time on Monday.

“Some of them are amendments to existing laws, some of them are new bills,’’ was how presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda described the priority measures that Mr. Aquino would be presenting on Tuesday to leaders of both chambers.

He acknowledged though that both the FOI and RH bills were taken up by the President and his Cabinet during a four-hour meeting last Friday.

Lacierda said Mr. Aquino had concerns about some “specific details’’ of the FOI bill that would give the public access to information involving government transactions.

Lacierda said the President agreed in principle with the concept of the FOI bill but “there were certain concerns that have to be addressed.’’

The Palace is drafting its own FOI measure, Lacierda said.