Senate committee approves FOI bill

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The Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media has approved the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill and will submit its report next week, said committee chairperson Senator Grace Poe.

In the second and final hearing on the measure last September 18, Poe said she will sponsor the bill for plenary debates on September 25. She expressed confidence that it will be passed by the chamber within the year.

Poe also said if the bill had been passed earlier, corruption in the government could have been prevented.

“An accountable and responsive government is usually the product of FOI,” said Poe.

Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito agreed: “It is very timely to pass this right now especially with all these PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) scam and other issues hounding the government.”

Ejercito hopes the bill will be certified and be part of President Benigno Aquino III’s priority list in the upcoming Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) “so we will be assured that it will be passed in the 16th Congress.”

Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary Jess Anthony Yu of the Presidential Communication Operations stated that the FOI bill has already been made part of the LEDAC. However, it has yet to be formalized in a meeting because of the Zamboanga City crisis.

News organizations and other groups also expressed their support for the immediate passage of the FOI bill.

“Nothing will herald a new dawn more clearly than passing a law that tells Filipinos, here is your government, we have nothing to hide,” said Roby Alampay, Interaksyon’s (TV5) editor in chief.

Alampay noted that the lack of access to information has created a culture of impunity.

Rowena Paraan of Bayan Mo, Ipatrol Mo, ABS-CBN TV network’s citizen-journalism arm, also pointed out that citizens need to question what is taking the legislative so long to pass the FOI law.

“FOI is an important pillar of a healthy democracy. It is a defense against corruption and it will provide a good policy environment for economic development,” added Paraan.

However, Paraan asserted that it is wrong to include a provision on the right of reply (ROR) in the FOI bill. She said such a “rider” will only free public officials, especially the corrupt ones, from accountability.

Poe shared the same sentiment and said that there are other outlets where politicians can air their side of an issue. She said the ROR provision will only be another form of censorship.

Last September 4, the Senate held its first committee hearing on the bill and the arguments were mostly on government’s rights and threats to national security. However, Professor Clarita Carlos of the University of the Philippines said the state should not “hide under the national security umbrella.”

Former Quezon province Representative Erin Tañada, a champion of the FOI bill in the previous Congress, lauded the “passion” of Senator Poe in passing the measure.

He recalled that the previous Congress lacked the will to pass the measure. “I had to do my battles with the chair. I had to schedule committee meetings. They even used the excuse that they could not find a room.”

Recent events should serve as a wake-up call for all of us, Tañada further stated.

Poe had earlier urged the President to make the FOI bill a priority. “I believe the President’s boss is really the people,” said Poe, “and the people are for this bill.”

With the speedy passage of the bill in the upper chamber, both Poe and Ejercito agreed that FOI advocates will have no problems in the Senate. They said the battle has always been in the Lower House.