FOI bill will live or die in panel, says proponent

The next chair of the public information committee in the House of Representatives would determine the fate of the stalled freedom of information (FOI) bill, especially after the measure was “killed” in the chamber.

“FOI advocates are hoping the next committee chair would be supportive of the measure and committed to fight for it,” said Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat, one of the proponents of the measure.

The 16th Congress convenes in July.

“The chair is important because he or she can retard or facilitate the bill’s progress with calculated intention. Usually, the House leadership doesn’t interfere much during committee deliberations. So it’s really the chair’s baton that matters in the committee,” Baguilat said.

“I think the chair should be an FOI advocate. It’s probably going to be the most significant bill that will ever come out of that committee,” he added.

Baguilat said he would support for the post any lawmaker who would commit to hasten the measure’s progress in the committee and to defend it before the plenary “with genuine gusto and not be dictated by the whims and positions of the upper echelons.”

Baguilat said he wanted to be part of the public information committee and had asked Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, who is expected to retain his post in the 16th Congress, to include him as a member. He also plans to refile his version of the FOI bill.

According to the Ifugao lawmaker, it is the Speaker’s prerogative to appoint the heads of committees. The current public information chair, Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, has the inside track for the post if he still wants it, he added.

Evardone had not been popular with FOI advocacy groups, which accused him of blocking the bill’s progress. But Evardone denied their allegations, saying he was supportive of the bill.

On Monday, Evardone said his reappointment as chairman of the public information committee would depend on the Speaker’s decision, but he would like to participate in the next debates and would be filing his own version of the FOI bill.

“I will be proposing a middle ground without losing the spirit and intent of the principles behind the measure,” Evardone said.

Baguilat, a member of the ruling Liberal Party who has been reelected to a second term, said fellow FOI supporters have been convincing him to make a bid for the public information committee chairmanship.

The FOI bill, touted as a tool for transparency in government to battle corruption, would have put in force the constitutionally guaranteed public right to government information. It aims to empower the public by giving them better access to government data and transactions and lift the shroud of secrecy over official dealings.

The Senate passed its version of the FOI bill last year, but the bill stalled in the House of Representatives.

President Aquino promised to push for an FOI law when he campaigned for the presidency in 2010, but advocates said his support for the measure had been tepid.