WHILE OTHER LEGISLATORS seem keen on avoiding any involvement with the committee that will handle the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill, pro-FOI lawmakers are endorsing DIWA party-list representative Emmeline Aglipay as chairperson of the Committee on Public Information.
The committee will again be holding hearings on the long-delayed FOI bill for the 16th Congress. Once the committee approves the bill, the committee’s chairperson is tasked with endorsing the bill to the House floor, and defending the measure before colleagues in the chamber.
Unfortunately, news reports indicate that many legislators are wary of accepting the position of chairperson of the public information committee, even as they scrambled for other juicier committees. Heading that committee is apparently seen as a no-win situation because the measure is said to be unpopular with many legislators.
However, at least seven pro-FOI congressmen have already written Speaker Feliciano Belmonte to endorse the appointment of Rep. Emmeline Aglipay of DIWA party-list as chairperson of the Committee on Public Information.
The letter was signed by Reps. Walden Bello, Teddy Baguilat Jr., Sherwin Tugna, Kaka Bag-ao, Roman Romulo, Ibarra Gutierrez, and Leah Primitiva Samaco-Paquiz.
The legislators said that while the leadership of the public information committee is not regarded as a juicy post, they feel it important as a touchstone for the administration’s avowed campaign for transparency and accountability.
“For the last two decades, the Commitee on Public Information has been at the help of the drafting and consideration of the Freedom of Information bill. While chairmanship of this committee is not regarded a plum position, we believe that it is a significant base from which to promote the administration’s agenda of transparency and accountability,” the lawmakers told the Speaker in their letter.
The endorsement has been accepted by Aglipay. There is no word yet on whether she is being considered by the House leadership for the position.
The previous chairman of the committee, Rep. Ben Evardone, has been criticized for allegedly dribbling the FOI for several months, in part because of stiff opposition put up by his colleagues in the lower chamber.