FINALLY! The FOI Bill

Aquino Approves Palace Draft of Freedom of Information Bill

President Benigno S. Aquino III green lighted the Palace proposal on the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill pending in Congress, which calls for the mandatory disclosure of government information to ensure enhanced transparency in government transactions.

The President met Wednesday morning with Secretaries Florencio Abad, Rene Almendras, Ricky Carandang, Edwin Lacierda and Undersecretary Manuel L. Quezon III to discuss the details of the Freedom of Information Bill.

Quezon, who shepherded the FOI bill in the Executive branch, said in a press conference in Malacanang on Wednesday that they conducted discussions with various stakeholders for several months regarding the bill based on the instructions of the President.

He said they presented the results of the consultations and studies to the President during Wednesday’s meeting.

“And the President’s marching orders to us was and this is his words: ‘to push ahead with the Freedom of Information,’” Quezon said.

However, Quezon noted that the President asked for the removal of the proposed Information Commission from the draft because the Chief Executive felt that it would add another layer of bureaucracy.

“The overall intention of this whole exercise, besides to make it as democratic and consultative as possible, was precisely because we were all working under the view that we have to make the constitutional injunction making information a right of the public a living reality,” Quezon said.

Asked about how soon the Palace expects the passage of the bill, he said it would depend on the leadership of both houses of Congress. But he said there is a consensus among lawmakers to make the bill a major achievement of the 15thCongress.

Inputs to the present version, the Tanada bill, will be included through amendments on the proposal which is currently pending in Congress.

While not all information can be released to the public, he said, the general rule is that information should always be available to the people as long as it doesn’t fall among those considered as restricted information.

These legitimate exceptions include information that harm the ability of the state to protect peace and order, diplomatic relations with other countries, and those that would expose police and military operations.

The President expressed his support to the FOI bill when he ran for President in the May 2010 presidential election.