FOI bill approval seen by yearend

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate committee on public information and mass media has concluded its public hearings on the proposed Freedom of Information (FOI) law and expects the bill to be approved by the end of the year.

Sen. Grace Poe, committee chair, said she does not expect any obstacles in the way of the approval of the FOI, passed by the Senate in the 16th Congress.

“We have already unanimously passed the FOI bill in the last Congress in record time. I think that we will be able to immediately come up with a committee report and sponsor this bill soon,” Poe said in concluding the second hearing on the bill.

Poe noted that the current version of the bill that she would be sponsoring does not differ much from the one passed in the 16th Congress.

A total of 13 FOI bills have been filed, which would now be consolidated into a single measure, which Poe will present in plenary.

“I think that a lot of senators will agree to an FOI law at the soonest possible time,” she said.

Poe noted that the agencies under the executive branch covered by Executive Order (EO) No. 2 issued by President Duterte were unanimous in backing the approval of an FOI law.

She assured the public that there would be proper safeguards in the bill to protect sensitive information, without sacrificing the objectives of transparency and good governance.

“An individual’s right to privacy is equally important as the right to information. There is a need to balance these two constitutionally protected rights, especially concerning online disclosure of sensitive information,” Poe said. 

The FOI bill was listed as among the priority measures, along with 14 other bills, that the Duterte administration wants passed immediately.

“Although the President’s EO is laudable, and we thank him for it, there is still an urgent need to pass a freedom of information law so that the scope will not just be on the Executive but also on the other branches of government,” Poe said.

“Thus, we are not giving up. In fact, we are full of hope. We are not going to make an exact replica. Rather, we will strive to improve the material before us, so that the committee report in this chamber will be a superior piece of legislation that is abreast with the needs of the times,” she added.