Aquino impeachment may delay FOI passage, solon warns

MANILA, Philippines — The impeachment complaints against President Aquino filed at the House of Representatives may affect the swift passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill, a lawmaker said Wednesday.

Deputy Speaker Giorgidi Aggabao believes that there is a big chance that the FOI bill will be passed by Congress during the second regular session with the "special pitch" made by House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. last Monday.

"The only kink I see would be the busy schedule of Congress. The budget hearing plus the impeachment complaints would surely occupy a good part of our time," said Aggabao, representative of the Fourth District of Isabela.

In his speech at the opening of the second regular session on Monday, Belmonte urged his colleagues to craft a "viable" FOI law to strengthen government transparency and accountability.

Aquino, who faces impeachment complaints over the unconstitutional Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), did not mention the FOI in his fifth State of the Nation Address.

The President, however, assured during a good governance forum earlier this month that an FOI bill will be enacted into law before his term ends in 2016.

Read: PNoy: FOI law will be passed within my term

Meantime, other lawmakers at the House have expressed support for Belmonte's pitch, saying it is about time to pass the FOI bill.

"The FOI is one law which should be passed a long time ago and should have been one priorities under this administration of Daang Matuwid," Abakada Party-list Representative Jonathan dela Cruz.

Stressing the overdue approval of the FOI bill, Pampanga Third District Representative Oscar Rodriguez, said he was file the original measure in the Eight Congress.

Parañaque City Representative Gus Tambunting, author of one of the pending FOI bills, hoped that the measure will become a law before 2014 ends.

Other lawmakers who welcomed Belmonte's pitch were ACT-CIS Party-list Representative Samuel Pagdilao and Nueva Ecija First District Representative Estrellita Suansing.

"I believe that the passage of the FOI Bill will help bring back public trust to the government," Suansing said.

The calls for the passage of an FOI law continue to mount as the government remains hounded by controversies involving public funds such as the pork barrel scam and the DAP.

Last week, FOI advocates submitted to Malacañang a petition with over 38,000 signatures calling for the approval of the measure. -Louis Bacani