Tañada still confident Aquino backs information bill

Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada III. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Quezon Representative Lorenzo Tañada III, the principal proponent of the Freedom of Information Bill, on Tuesday said that he remained confident President Benigno Aquino III would like the measure passed during his term.

Hours before the House committee on public information convenes to tackle for the second time this year the FOI bill, Tañada told reporters in a press conference that he believed Aquino “wants an FOI Bill under his term.”

Aquino would not form a technical working group if he did not want the bill approved under his leadership, he said.

The public information panel is likely to deliberate on contentious issues in the proposed law at its 1:30 p.m. hearing, including Nueva Ecija Representative Rodolfo Antonino’s move for a provision on the right to reply for public officials.

“It may be considered as make or break (for the FOI),” he said when asked how he felt about the second hearing on the proposed bill for the year. The first hearing was held in March.

“The contentious issues should have been resolved earlier if more hearings were held,” he said.

If lawmakers still do not reach an agreement in the hearing later, Tañada said that the next parliamentary move was to divide the members of the committee.

“If there’s a need to divide the house we will. Whoever wins then we will just have to accept the results but this does not mean that the provision on the right to reply may not be brought up again in plenary (if the bill is approved by the committee),” he said.

Tañada remained hopeful that the FOI Bill would be passed by the 15th Congress, saying it was possible “as long as both chambers act before December 20 and pass it on third reading.”

However, he said that “failure in either chamber would be the death knell for the FOI in the 15th Congress.”