Belmonte confident FOI will advance ‘within 16th Congress’

By: DJ Yap - 10 years ago

Speaker Sonny Belmonte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–If all goes as planned, the freedom of information bill (FOI) will be soon up for debate on the plenary floor of the House of Representatives.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the controversial measure would likely receive sponsorship once the public information committee transmitted its report on the bill, which would allow public access to all official records, except state secrets and other confidential communications.

“I see no reason why it won’t be sponsored on floor,” he told reporters in an interview Thursday night.

Belmonte could not give a time frame, but made an assurance this would happen “within the 16th Congress.”

Backed by civil society and media organizations, the FOI bill passed a critical hurdle on Wednesday after the budget for its implementation was approved by the appropriations committee.

Under the bill, the amounts needed to carry out its provisions shall be charged against the agencies’ current budget, and thereafter be included in the budget law.

“This is the biggest hurdle [of the FOI bill] before meeting the floor,” Belmonte said.

The Senate has already passed its own version of the FOI bill. But it has moved very slowly in the lower chamber, with President Benigno Aquino III refusing to certify it as urgent in spite of public clamor.

Under the FOI bill, every Filipino citizen shall be given access to “any record under the control of a government agency,” including “official acts, transactions or decisions, as well as government research data used as a basis for policy development.”

The bill emphasizes a “legal presumption in favor of access to information,” in which any request for information may be denied only if it clearly falls under 11 exceptions.

These include classified state secrets relating to defense and national security concerns, records of minutes during decision-making or policy formulation of the President, and other information whose disclosure may compromise military or law enforcement operations.