Senate approves FOI bill, 17-0

MANILA, Philippines - Voting 17-0, the Senate approved on third and final reading yesterday the People’s Ownership on Government Information (POGI) bill, its version of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

Sen. Gregorio Honasan, chairman of the Senate committee on public information and mass media, said the measure, tempered effectively by a corresponding sense of responsibility, will drastically reduce if not eradicate highly placed syndicates and conspiracies, and “excesses of partisan politics.”

“As early on observed by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in the 1928 case of Springer vs. Government of the Philippine Islands, the great ordinances of our Constitution do not establish and divide fields of black and white,” Honasan said.

He said the bill “seeks to fortify the people’s right of ownership over information held by the people’s government.”

Those who voted for the measure are President Juan Ponce Enrile, Senators Edgardo Angara, Joker Arroyo, Alan Peter Cayetano, Pia Cayetano, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Franklin Drilon, Francis Escudero, Jinggoy Estrada, Gregorio Honasan, Panfilo Lacson, Loren Legarda, Francis Pangilinan, Aquilino Pimentel III, Ramon Revilla Jr., Manuel Villar and majority leader Vicente Sotto III.

Under the POGI bill, the government agency should explain before the court why it did not release the information.

Full disclosure of information on projects, transactions, documents and records pertaining to public interest must be made public by posting the information on government websites, and preferably translated into major Filipino dialects for easier comprehension, the measure indicated.

The proposed measure also mandates government agencies to grant requests for access to information within 15 days from receipt of request.

Certain exceptions to the people’s right to information were cited in the bill, including, among others, information pertaining to national security, where information may be withheld if the revelation of information will create a clear and present danger of war, invasion or any external threat to the country.

It also exempts records of minutes, advice or opinions expressed during decision-making or policy formulation proceedings of all branches of government.

The measure also exempts requests for information pertaining to the personal information of a natural person other than the requesting party to protect their right to privacy, unless he or she has consented, in writing, to the disclosure of information.

Honasan sponsored Senate Bill 3208, also known as the POGI Act of 2012 while Legarda, Alan Cayetano, Antonio Trillanes IV and Drilon were co-sponsors.

The measure also seeks to address the legal loopholes that have allowed government agencies to openly disregard the people’s right to information.