Palace welcomes Senate’s passage of FOI bill

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang welcomes the decision of the Senate to pass the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill, but has served notice that they are still awaiting action on a counterpart bill in the House of Representatives. 

“We support the Senate’s enactment of the FOI bill, as it substantially incorporates the draft we submitted to its committee on public information,” Press Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a text message to reporters.  

“We are waiting for the action of the lawmakers in the House of Representatives. And we hope that they will respond to the citizen’s call for the passage of this important legislation,” he said in Filipino during a media briefing.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. reiterated yesterday that the House would pass the FOI bill in the 16th Congress, and he is not pressured by the Senate’s approval of its version of the measure.

“I promised to pass it in the 16th Congress. You can hang me if this (Congress finally adjourns) and is not able to pass (the FOI bill),” Belmonte said in jest.

The House version of the bill remains with the committee on public information, chaired by Misamis Occidental Rep. Jorge Almonte. A technical working group is in the process of consolidating all 23 versions of the FOI bill.

“The deadliest deadline is by the middle of 2015 (when) the President should be signing the FOI bill. Beyond that, it’s getting to be unfeasible,” said Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat, one of the authors of the measure.

“It should be done before we start deliberation on the Bangsamoro bill and the budget,” he added.

Coloma, however, was very careful when asked by reporters if President Aquino would push for the transparency measure, which the former senator promised to sign into law as early as May 2010 when he was still a presidential candidate. 

“Ang ating Pangulo kasi ay napakamapili (our President is very choosy). He’s very circumspect in the use of presidential power. So he is weighing first if there is a need to use it,” Coloma said.  

Answers with regard to queries if the bill will be certified as urgent are also vague.

“Our view is instead of insisting that there is a need for the President to certify it, perhaps it will be better if the citizens would knock on the hearts of their representatives,” Coloma said in Filipino.

“They are the ones who should express their insights to let our lawmakers feel the urgency or significance of this law,” he added.

Coloma also noted that the executive branch of the government respects the process and separation of powers among the coequal branches.

“So we think it would be effective if the pressure will come from citizens themselves because these are legislators that were elected by the people and they are accountable to their constituents that put them in power,” he added. 

When asked if the public can count on Aquino’s promise to sign the FOI bill into law before his term ends, Coloma replied: “Sana nga po maganap iyan (hopefully it will happen).” 

The cabinet member reminded the public that Aquino did not force lawmakers to pass the controversial reproductive health bill, he only made his sentiments in favor of the measure known.

Coloma also took the opportunity to point out that even without the FOI bill, such steps have already been undertaken by the Aquino administration by espousing the principles of “openness, transparency, full disclosure, and accountability of public officials.”

Belmonte, meanwhile, encouraged his colleagues in the House to make public their statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN) after filing it before the proper agencies.

All government officials and employees are mandated to file their SALNs on April 30 yearly. Lawmakers are required to submit their SALNs to the House secretary-general.

“It’s something that we discuss every year at the moment our concern is to see everybody files his SALN and I encourage all of them to make it public,” Belmonte told reporters. “Still I don’t know whether I can impose that rule on them.”

But he gave assurances that the Office of the House Secretary-General would come out with a summary of the SALNs of individual lawmakers.

“That summary can be made more detailed if possible, I’ll ask the secretary general (Marilyn Barua-Yap) and in consultation with the (House) leadership to think of maybe more information to be contained in that summary,” Belmonte added.

He said last year, he formed a group composed of lawmakers to study how to make the process more transparent but the body came out with a report that made it more complicated.