FOI bill limps to homestretch in House
MANILA, Philippines–Well, it is getting there.
The committee report on the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill is finished and signed, but its submission for plenary consideration has been pushed back another week.
The report was to be submitted to the secretary general for assignment of a House Bill number on Wednesday, but the panel opted to do it next week as its chair and several authors of the measure attended the committee vote on the Bangsamoro Basic Law.
The panel chair, Misamis Occidental Rep. Jorge Almonte, said it took considerable time to complete the report as his committee did not have control of the schedule of the appropriations committee, which introduced a modification to one of the budget provisions.
“To us, we are satisfied it has gone through the process,” Almonte said.
After it gets a number, the bill will go to the rules committee for inclusion in the calendar of business and action in plenary session.
One of the authors, Akbayan Rep. Ibarra Gutierrez III, said he was confident its proponents would be able to muster support on the floor, but he expressed concern about the timetable.
To be passed mid-June
“The crucial step is having it calendared for second reading, and then interpellation and debate, as soon as possible,” he said.
The target is to pass the bill before Congress adjourns in mid-June.
Earlier, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. made the assurance the FOI bill would be passed “within the 16th Congress.”
Backed by civil society and media groups, the FOI bill has moved very slowly in the lower chamber, with President Aquino refusing to certify it as urgent in spite of a public clamor.
The Senate has passed its version of the FOI bill. Both versions would then be debated and consolidated before being presented to the President for signing into law.
Since 1992, there have been many attempts to pass an FOI bill. In 2010, Congress nearly succeeded after both houses passed the measure on third reading. But the House failed to ratify the bill for lack of a quorum. The Senate finally passed its version in March 2014.
Under the measure, Filipino citizens shall have 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 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 exceptions include classified state secrets related to defense and national security concerns, records of minutes during decision-making or policy formulation by the president, and information whose disclosure may compromise military or law enforcement operations.
