Research and thoughts on The Freedom of Information Bill

BONDOC, MARICOR CHESKA P.                                                        

E-COMMUNICATION ACTIVITY 2

The Freedom of Information Bill 

Corruption in the Philippines is a solemn hindrance to the economic and social development of our country. The Filipino people are the ones suffering from this problem. As a result, the Filipinos are made to pay for overpriced goods and services or are made to deal with low-quality or substandard goods or services. 

The Freedom of Information (FOI) bill is a major element of the Aquino administration’s Good Governance and Anti-Corruption Plan. This is one of the ways of the former administration to fight corruption which is very common in our country even today. 

According to the article that I have read on Rappler, a popular news website in the Philippines which is entitled, Why the Philippines needs a freedom of information law; the people's right to information on matters of public concern has been constitutionally recognized in the country since 1973. As cited in this section,

Section 6. The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized. Access to official records, and to documents and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions, or decisions, shall be afforded the citizen subject to such limitations as may be provided by law. -Bill of Rights, 1973 Constitution 

While browsing the internet, I have researched the latest update on The Freedom of Information Bill, retrieved from http://www.gov.ph/foi/ and it says;

“LATEST: In President Aquino's message on the National Budget for Fiscal Year 2016, he reiterated that greater fiscal transparency leads to a more responsive government. To ensure the permanency of transparency policies, he has urged Congress to pass the Freedom of Information Act.

Both bills below follow the proposed FOI bill approved by President Benigno S. Aquino III, which was transmitted to the previous Congress by the Secretary of Budget and Management, Florencio Abad. Secretary Abad resubmitted the bill to the current Congress as well.

This FOI bill is an integral element of the Aquino Good Governance and Anti-Corruption Plan of 2012-2016. This plan lays out reforms and initiatives that pursue greater transparency, accountability, and citizen participation in governance.

This draft bill is a result of a consultative process conducted by an administration study group after careful study of similar legislation in order to balance the government’s legitimate needs for secrecy with the public’s right to know.

The administration study group was composed of Communications Undersecretary Manuel L. Quezon III (lead), Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, Secretary Florencio B. Abad, and Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte, in coordination with the stakeholders.

Senate

On Monday, March 10, 2014, the Senate passed the FOI bill on third and final reading, with 22 affirmative votes, no abstention, and no negative votes.

House of Representatives

LATEST: On March 4, 2015, the bill passed the Committee on Appropriations; as of this date, it is awaiting 2nd reading.

The Committee of Public Information of the House of Representatives has formed a technical working group (TWG) to expedite the passage of the house version. The TWG has conducted regular meetings to discuss the provisions last February to June. Resource persons from the different offices from the executive participated in the meetings. The Office of the President was represented by Undersecretary Manuel L. Quezon III.

On October 23, 2013, Camarines Sur Third District Representative Maria Leonor G. Robredo and Batanes Representative Henedina R. Abad filed House Bill No. 3237, otherwise known as “An Act to Strengthen the Right of Citizens to Information held by the Government.”

Furthermore, with the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s (PDI) article on July 25, 2016 which is entitled, FOI order covers executive branch by Marlon Ramos, “Fulfilling a campaign promise of transparency, President Duterte has signed an executive order (EO) allowing public access to documents and information in all government agencies under the Office of the President.

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said Mr. Duterte signed on Saturday the executive order adopting the long-pending freedom of information (FOI) bill that would cover for a start the executive branch of government.”

The president had an urgent decision on this, because he wants to avoid corruption which was very common with the former and recent leaders of our country. Senators were very pleased that the president signed the EO because they failed to let the former president approve on the said bill.”

Also, as mentioned in the PDI to further give information, 

“Andanar said there was “substantive pushing and pulling” for two weeks before the President signed the order.

He said the President’s move would be welcomed by “champions of good governance who … fought tooth and nail for the last 29 years to strengthen the right to information as inscribed in our 1987 Constitution.”

“After 29 years and only (after) 25 days (into the presidency) of Rody Duterte, this is already a record-breaking speed of cornerstone or milestone or a landmark executive order being signed,” he added.

In the history of law-makers, they really wanted this bill to be approved, and it only took days for the new president to sign it, Still, with the interview of Adanar, as quoted, the executive order, titled “Operationalizing in the Executive Branch the People’s Constitutional Right to Information and the State Policies of Full Public Disclosure and Transparency in the Public Service and Providing Guidelines Therefor,” said it was consistent with the Constitution.

“Every Filipino shall have access to information, official records, public records, and to documents and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions or decisions, as well as to government research data used as basis for public-development,” according to the directive.

Reading the order, Andanar said, information would refer to “any records, documents, papers, reports, letters, contracts, minutes and transcripts of official meetings, maps, books, photographs, data, research materials, films, sound and video recording, magnetic or other tapes, electronic data, computer stored data, or other like or similar data or materials recorded, stored or archived in whatever format.”

However, requests would be denied regarding information that “falls under any of the exceptions enshrined in the Constitution, existing law or jurisprudence.”

The President also instructed every agency in the executive branch to “formulate their respective implementing details” 120 days after the effectivity of the FOI order.

Probably, it all started with the Marcoses, on February 2014, the Philippine government finally recovered around $30 million from multi-million dollar accounts which they were not convicted for the fault. Some Filipinos not only see the Marcoses as an example, but also the former presidents, Arroyo and the first gentleman, Erap and Jinggoy Estrada and the former chief justice Renato Corona who were also accused of corruption. 

As cited in the REPUBLIC ACT NO. 3019 ANTI-GRAFT AND CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT 

Section 3. Corrupt practices of public officers. — In addition to acts or omissions of public officers already penalized by existing law, the following shall constitute corrupt practices of any public officer and are hereby declared to be unlawful: (a) Persuading, inducing or influencing another public officer to perform an act. 

The law that was recently signed as an EO was compared to those of the other countries have, as mentioned by Rappler, with the support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, analyzed freedom of information laws in other parts of the world. The popular news website noted these common features in the laws that they studied:  an overall policy making information available limits of access 

prescribed process by which information may be accessed, cost of access, and processes for appealing request refusals in recent cases measures to ensure that access policies are enforced through oversight bodies and penalty clauses. 

With the continuous corruption in the Philippines not just by our presidents but also the local public officials, the FOI was immediately signed by the president, although the law will allow the public to access information from the public officials, it also covers the people from the government. As summarized from the Philippine Star’s article dated on July 24, 2016 by Alexis Romero, 

Congress, judiciary not covered.

The EO will cover all government offices under the executive branch including the national government and all its offices, departments, bureaus, offices and instrumentalities. It will also be implemented in state-run firms, universities and colleges.

The order will not cover Congress and the judiciary because of the doctrine of the separation of powers. Andanar said it would be up to the legislature to decide whether to enact an FOI law that would cover all government branches.

“Congress is an independent branch of government and the president believes in the independence of each independent branch of government,” Andanar said answering a question on whether Duterte would ask Congress to pass an FOI law.

Local government units, however, are encouraged to observe and be guided by the order.

The order defined “information” as the following:

· records

· documents

· papers

· reports

· letters

· contracts

· minutes and transcripts of official meetings

· maps

· books

· photographs

· data

· research materials

· sound and video recording

· magnetic or other tapes

· electronic data

· computer stored data or other like or similar data or materials

· recorded stored archived or whatever format

“Every Filipino shall have access to information, official records public records and documents and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions and decision as well as government research data used as basis for public development,” the order read.

Exceptions

Requests for information, however, will be denied if they fall under exceptions provided in the constitution, laws or jurisprudence. The Justice department and the solicitor general's office were directed to come up with an inventory of exceptions and submit them to Duterte within 30 calendar days from the effectivity date of the order.

The inventory of exceptions will be updated periodically to reflect changes in existing laws and jurisprudence. Andanar said among the information that would not be released are those that “put the government in danger in terms of national security.”

Officials who refuse to release information that do not fall within the exceptions may face administrative charges, he added. 

The order also reminded officials to file and to make available their statements of assets liabilities and net worth.

The head of the government office, which has custody or control of the information being sought or his duly designated official will determine whether the exceptions are applicable to the request.

Heads of offices or their duly designated representatives were ordered to “exercise reasonable diligence” to ensure that the exceptions or denials of requests would not be used to cover up a crime or any wrongdoing like graft or corruption.

“There shall be a legal presumption of favor of access to information, public records and official records. No request for info shall be denied unless it clearly falls under any of the exceptions listed in the inventory or updated inventory of exceptions,” the order read.

While officials were directed to provide public access to information, they were also instructed to observe and protect the right to privacy of individuals.

Government offices in the executive branch were directed to ensure that personal information would only be released if relevant to the request and if the EO or by laws and regulations allow such disclosure.

They were also tasked to make "reasonable security arrangements" against leaks or premature disclosure of personal information that might subject one to harassment, vilification and other wrongful acts. 

In my judgment, the FOI is very significant to our country, the Philippines. The laws are imperative. The confidence of the people to fight corruption will be now very evident in our own eyes and minds. Our elected public officials are subject to public accountability and the equal treatment of all people under the rule of law. This is a good step for the public officials to think million times first before doing something immoral and unlawful, particularly corruption. The EO states that every Filipino shall have access to information, records, and documents to official government transactions and research data. Furthermore, the EO covers all government agencies under the executive branch — but is not limited to national government agencies and offices. This is to strengthen the right of information among the Filipinos. Every citizen of this country has the right to know the information of the government officials that they voted for. This not only seeks to fight corruption, it also gives importance to prompt public officials to submit their Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) and make it available to the public eye. 

To sum it up, it may be a huge problem for Filipinos that some of our political leaders cheat on us, lie to us and even steal from our paid taxes which is the nightmare of every Filipino citizen. Graft and corruption must be stopped, so the FOI is very much needed for the public to see the assets of our public officials. I’m glad that our newly elected President prioritized this bill which means he is also eager to fight corruption. 

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