Senate starts plenary debates on FOI bill

MANILA, Philippines – Plenary debates on the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill started yesterday in the Senate with its authors hopeful of the measure’s passage before the end of year.

Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public information and mass media, sponsored in plenary Senate Bill 159 that she said gives flesh to the citizens’ constitutional right to information on matters of public concern as she sought greater transparency in government.

She asked her colleagues to support the proposed law — a consolidation of 14 bills — in light of the support of the Duterte administration to the measure.

“If there’s one costly lesson we have learned from our past, it is this: secrecy corrupts, and absolute secrecy corrupts absolutely,” Poe said.

“We remain confident that we will pass this FOI in the present Congress because our citizens cannot afford to wait any longer to fully exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to access critical information,” she said.

The FOI bill, despite multi-partisan support in previous Congresses, has not been signed into law for nearly three decades due to lack of support from Malacañang.

The FOI bill is Poe’s first legislation filed in the 17th Congress. Other authors of the bill are Senators Gregorio Honasan, Francisco Pangilinan, Alan Peter Cayetano, Francis Escudero, Antonio Trillanes, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Leila de Lima, Loren Legarda, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Juan Edgardo Angara, Joel Villanueva, Risa Hontiveros and Paolo Benigno Aquino IV.

The landmark measure covers the executive, judiciary and the legislature, demands accountability across the public sector, prescribes procedures, remedies and defines limitations for citizens’ access to government record and data and even sets criminal, civil and administrative penalties for non-disclosure of information.

The measure provides for mandatory disclosures of statements of assets, liabilities and net worth of public officials. Exempted from disclosure, however, are those that will compromise national security, defense, law enforcement operations, foreign relations, trade and economic secrets and the constitutional right to privacy and safety.

The bill mandates information commonly sought to be posted on government websites, so that citizens need not request for them.

Under the bill, exceptions on matters of national security, operational security, trade secrets, diplomatic security, and presidential privilege were clearly defined, and shall not be used to cover up crime or unlawful activity, and the same shall be subject to review every three years.

Right to privacy is protected under the measure where the disclosure of personal data under the custody of the state shall be done in accordance with the provisions of the Data Privacy Act of 2012.

Section 11 of the bill mandates government agencies to prepare an FOI manual to facilitate the implementation of the law.

A person who is unable to make a written request, because of illiteracy or disability may make an oral request.

Once the request is submitted, the government agency should help the requesting party free of charge and provide the information within 15 days.

If the government agency decides to deny the request, in whole or in part, it shall also inform the requesting party within 15 calendar days of the grounds for denial and indicate the available remedies for appeal.

Under the legislation, jail time and fines will be imposed upon individuals who acted in bad faith over non-disclosure or those who willfully destroyed requested documents.

President Duterte earlier asked lawmakers to pass an FOI law and implement wide-ranging reforms after Malacañang issued Executive Order No. 2 implementing the FOI measure only in the executive branch.