Passage of FOI bill seen next year

LEGAZPI CITY—Deputy House Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III expects the much-awaited freedom of information (FOI) bill to pass into law by next year.

Tañada said he has no doubt at all that President Benigno Aquino III would sign the FOI bill once it is approved by the bicameral conference committee.

Mr. Aquino considers the FOI an important piece of legislation that he would want enacted during his term, the Quezon representative told a press conference here on Wednesday.

He was one of the supporters of the FOI bill when he was still senator, said Tañada, the spokesperson of the ruling Liberal Party and a close ally of the President.

Tañada was one of the principal sponsors of the FOI when it was filed during the 14th Congress. The measure was stalled when legislators became preoccupied with the holding of the national elections in 2010.

It was refiled in the 15th Congress and is set to be approved by the House committee on information, Tañada said. In the Senate, a technical working group is studying the bill’s provisions, he added.  Mar S. Arguelles, Inquirer Southern Luzon