Category: Freedom of Information

FOI advocates walk out during Congress session

Ed Lingao Leave a comment

SCRATCH ONE DAY.

Advocates of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill still pending in Congress walked out during the resumption of regular session in the House of Representatives after the lower chamber again failed to calendar the measure for floor debates.

House leaders said the measure will be taken up on the floor beginning tomorrow (Tuesday Jan. 22), leaving just eight remaining session days before Congress adjourns for the long election break.

FOI advocates have been demanding quick Congress action on the FOI beginning today, as there are only nine session days remaining before the chamber goes on extended break on Feb. 8. After that, the 15th Congress will only resume session for three days in June this year, during which time it wraps up sessions.

cong

The measure’s principal author took the floor Monday afternoon to ask the House leadership if the FOI would finally be taken up on the floor. To this, Deputy Majority Leader Bolet Banal responded that the Committee on Rules had decided to calendar the measure the next day, Tuesday.

At this point, some 70 members of the Right to Know Right Now Coalition immediately stood up and walked out of the gallery, with some chanting “FOI, FOI, Ipasa!”  (Pass the FOI!)

The FOI advocates continued to chant as they walked down to the lobby, even as congress security men tried to usher them out into the driveway. The demonstration continued in front of Congress as chanting FOI advocates spilled out into the driveway, to the surprise of some congressmen who were arriving late.

Right to Know Right Now lead convenor Nepomuceno Malaluan said the group is sorely disappointed that the Congress leadership is still dribbling the FOI despite the widespread calls for its passage. Malaluan said that if the House leadership was really interested in transparency and accountability, the measure would have been immediately calendared and rushed through the legislative mill.

Malaluan said that the bill could easily be passed in the remaining eight session days if only the House leadership would put its shoulders behind the measure. However, if Congress is really not bent on passing the bill, no number of days would be enough to see the bill through.

For his part, House Committee on Public Information chairman Ben Evardone said he had warned FOI proponents that there were still many contentious provisions in the measure that need to be discussed on the floor.

Evardone says he knows of several Congressmen who have personally told him of their concerns with the FOI measure. These Congressmen, Evardone said, are certain to block passage of the FOI until their concerns have been addressed.

These include Reps. Pedro Romualdo and Rodolfo Antonino. Romualdo had successfully blocked the ratification of an earlier version of the FOI bill during the 14th Congress by raising the issue of a quorum in the chamber. For his part, Antonino had tried to block the FOI’s approval in the committee level by insisting on the inclusion of a Right of Reply (ROR) provision, which would require media agencies to provide equal time or space to government officials who feel slighted by news stories about them.

At the same time, the Makabayan block of legislators allied with the party-list group Bayan Muna has withdrawn authorship of the FOI, saying that the measure now pending before Congress has been heavily watered down by Malacanang so as to make it ineffective and even anti-transparency.

Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casino said the seven-member block was withdrawing its support for the measure until the bill takes on a more acceptable form. Casino said that in its present form, the bill only serves to institutionalize exemptions that would allow government officials to block access to information.

In fact, the members of the Makabayan block said the Freedom of Information bill has now become the Freedom of Exemption bill because of the long list of exemptions granted to government officials. Among the points of concern raised by the Makabayan block are the provision for executive privilege, as well as the exemption that allows police and military officials to keep information confidential if they think it would interfere with the detection and suppression of criminal activity.

 

Pooled editorial tells pols, parties: Take a stand, don’t cop out on FOI

mcmangahas Leave a comment

ANOTHER POOLED EDITORIAL by the newspaper-members of the Philippine Press Institute has challenged all political parties and candidates in the May 2013 elections to take a firm stand on the immediate passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) in the 15th Congress.

The editorial ran on Monday in the print and online editions of Ang Pahayagang Malaya, BusinessWorld, The Journal, and Manila Standard-Today in Metro Manila, as well as in a number of regional and provincial newspapers.

The full text of the editorial follows:


Take a stand: Don’t cop out on FOI

IT IS the season of elections and all political parties and candidates are wont to spin a slew of promises yet again in their drive for votes.

But before they start courting voters yet again, the first order of business is this: Political parties and candidates must deliver on a promise they’ve made in elections past by taking and making known their party and personal stand on the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill.

Over the last 15 years, from the 11th to the 15th Congress, the FOI bill has been stuck in the legislative wringer for lack of clarity and coherence in how lawmakers and their political parties stand on the issue. Even as President Aquino himself as a candidate in May 2010 had promised to push the FOI into law, members of his ruling Liberal Party and its allies in the majority coalition of the Nacionalista Party, the Nationalist People’s Coalition, and the National Unity Party have separately come out as either the most ardent champions or the most strident critics of the FOI bill.

Between the pros and the cons in the FOI bill equation, that is where these political parties are: fence-sitting with neither leadership nor clarity of purpose with respect to the constitutionally guaranteed state policies of transparency and accountability that the FOI bill upholds.

Political will from all the political parties could yet assure the passage of the FOI bill in the remaining nine session days from January 21 to February 8, 2013, or before Congress adjourns for the elections. Calling for a conscience vote on the FOI bill is a clear cop-out by political parties and candidates now aspiring to be elected into office.

All voters must carefully scrutinize how these parties and their candidates for the 2013 elections will stand on FOI in their remaining nine session days. The countdown begins today. How they stand on the FOI bill, and if at all they will take a stand on this all-important reform measure, will give us an idea whether or not they deserve our vote in the coming May elections.

Start debate on FOI at once, Coalition urges House leaders

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THE RIGHT TO KNOW, Right Now! Coalition on Sunday urged Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II to assure that the sponsorship and plenary debate on the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill will start Monday, Jan. 21.

In a statement, the Coalition of over 160 civil society organizations and leaders said it will also launch a nine-day “People’s Vigil for FOI” to coincide with the remaining nine session days from Jan. 21 to Feb. 8, or before the 15th Congress adjourns again for the May 2013 elections.

“Every single day of delay would serve as additional evidence that the less-than-spirited action on the FOI bill by the House over the last two months may have been deliberately calculated to prevent the timely consideration and passage of the FOI bill,” the Coalition said.

“This resort to delaying action may only be designed to lead the FOI bill to the same outcome – the death, or murder, of the FOI bill – that happened on the last session days of the 14th Congress under then Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr.,” the Coalition said.

“Should the FOI bill meet a redux of its tragic fate in the 14th Congress,” the Coalition said, it “would have no choice but to hold Speaker Belmonte and Majority Leader Gonzalez responsible for command negligence.”

The full text of the Coalition’s statement follows:

Nine-Day People’s Vigil for FOI
Start FOI debate on Monday, advocates urge Belmonte, Gonzales

TTHE BROAD coalition of Freedom of Information (FOI) advocates on Sunday urged Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II to allow the sponsorship and start plenary debates on the FOI bill on Monday, Jan. 21.

Citing the urgency of action on the FOI bill by the House of Representatives, the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition also announced its decision to launch a nine-day “People’s Vigil for FOI” to coincide with the next nine session days of Congress beginning Monday and until Feb. 8, 2013.

If the House leadership is serious about giving the FOI bill a chance to pass through Third Reading within the remaining nine session days, Speaker Belmonte and Majority Leader Gonzales must ensure that the sponsorship of the committee report on FOI is in the Order of Business for Jan. 21, the Coalition said in a press statement.

Every single day of delay would serve as additional evidence that the less-than-spirited action on the FOI bill by the House over the last two months may have been deliberately calculated to prevent the timely consideration and passage of the FOI bill, the Coalition said.

This resort to delaying action may only be designed to lead the FOI bill to the same outcome –- the death, or murder, of the FOI bill –- that happened on the last session days of the 14th Congress under then Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr.

Should the FOI bill meet a redux of its tragic fate in the 14th Congress, the members of the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition would have no choice but to hold Speaker Belmonte and Majority Leader Gonzalez responsible for command negligence.

It will be recalled that Rep. Ben Evardone, chair of the House Committee on Public Information, had on several instances earlier reneged on his commitment to hold committee hearings on the FOI bill.

That early, FOI advocates have sought Belmonte’s intervention and action, but he chose only to ignore, or play ignorant and indifferent to our appeals. As Evardone hemmed and hawed, legislators in favor of the FOI bill launched an initiative to use Rule IX, Section 37, par. 1 of the Rules of the House of Representatives, which states:

“Regular and Special Meetings. The committees shall hold regular meetings at least twice a month. Special meetings may be held by the committee which may be called by the chairperson or by one-fourth (1/4) of its Members. Provided, that the Members shall be notified in writing and, as far as practicable, through electronic mail indicating therein the date, time, place and agenda of the meeting.”

Led by Akbayan Representatives Walden Bello and Kaka Bag-ao, the group was able to secure the signatures of more than the eight Committee members needed to put the rule in effect.

A notice of committee hearing for October 9 was signed by nine members of the Committee — Rep. Teddy Baguilat of Ifugao, Rep. Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales of CIBAC, Rep. Teddy Casiño of Bayan Muna, Rep Raymond Palatino of Kabataan, Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy of Bagong Henerasyon, Rep. Sharon Garin of AAMBIS-OWA, Rep. Leopoldo Bataoil of Pangasinan, Rep. Rodolfo Albano of Isabela, and Rep. Danilo Ramon Fernandez of Laguna.

Belmonte, however, prevailed upon the group to allow Evardone to call the hearing instead, which allowed Evardone to further delay committee action.

Belmonte can make up for lost time by acting decisively on the FOI bill Monday, January 21, and on all the eight session days remaining before the Congress adjourns again on Feb. 9, for the May 2013 elections.

We will closely monitor, and censure or celebrate if need be, how Speaker Belmonte, Majority Leader Gonzales, Representative Evardone, and all the House members will act on the FOI bill in the next three weeks.

We will attend all plenary sessions of the next nine session days of Congress starting Monday, as we all have a right to know which of the House members will do right or wrong by the FOI bill.

We will kick off our nine-day vigil for the FOI bill with a Mass at the St. Peter’s Parish Church on Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City, at noon today, before proceeding to the Old Batasan Buildng to be present at the House plenary session.

We request the members of the news and online media, and most important of all, our citizens, to join our People’s Vigil for FOI.

Bishop: FOI upholds truth, social justice for all Pinoys

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LET’S HEAR IT from the Catholic Church.

The Freedom of Information (FOI) bill must pass, and pass promptly, according to Bishop Broderick S. Pabillo, DD, national director of the National Secretariat for Social Action-Justice and Peace (NASSA-JP), the social action arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

The FOI bill, the Bishop said, is replete with “truth and social justice” values, other than being a right of the citizens guaranteed in the 1987 Constitution.

The FOI bill enables “social auditing… for the common good,” Pabillo said in a statement he read on Friday, during the press conference on the FOI bill’s passage organized by the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition.

“In the spirit of truth and justice, CBCP-NASSA calls upon the House of Representatives, with or without the certification of urgency from President Aquino, to act on the FOI bill,” Pabillo said. Yet even better, “President Aquino can choose to make a difference by certifying the urgency of the FOI bill.”

When citizens do not follow the law, they are penalized, the Bishop noted. In contrast, when lawmakers do not follow the law, “what is to be done?”

“In calling for the FOI to become a law, we are asking for nothing else than to fulfil the mandate of our Constitution. If citizens do not fulfil the law they are penalized. But if lawmakers do not fulfil the highest law of the land, what is to be done to them?” Pabillo asked.

For the May 2013 elections,”once again, the President and his candidates under his Liberal Party-led coalition will aspire to seek a fresh mandate, emphasizing that his coalition symbolizes good governance, accountability, and transparency. But this assertion would indeed lack credibility if the FOI Act will remain a pipedream for us Filipinos.”

“The Social Action arm of the Catholic Church.. (NASSA), takes special interest in the fate that will befall the FOI bill in the 15th Congress. More than a general right, there is a strong justice aspect to FOI,” he said.

“Lack of access to public information systematically subjects our marginalized sectors – farmers, fisherfolks, Indigenous peoples, workers and rural and urban poor, particularly the Basic Ecclesial Communities – to become vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation by bad elements in our society,” Pabillo added.

“Unfamiliarity and ignorance of government processes, contracts, activities and services, together with lack of formal education cause deprivation of rights and poverty,” he said. “Our people then become mere objects of government policies rather than active participants in their own development.”

According to the Bishop, “without access to information, the people are kept in the dark. They remain unaware of the projects and contracts the national and local governments make for them. Our people then eventually tend to develop distrust in government institutions and activities.”

He said the passage of the FOI would be “a great service to the people” as it will “empower the people, especially the poor, with a new tool of information, which will promote social justice by giving the opportunity for social auditing towards the pursuit of the common good.”

Read the full text of Bishop Pabillo’s statement:

A Righteous Path Demands FOI

+BRODERICK S. PABILLO, D.D., National Director, CBCP Caritas Filipinas Foundation, Inc., National Secretariat for Social Action-Justice and Peace
18 January 2013

THERE is something very wrong when a proposed legislation that will do right to the people does not get the determined support of government leaders who are sworn to protect the people’s interest.

All sectors support, and demand, the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. This is rightly so. In entrusting to our government officials the power to govern, the people have the right to protect themselves against all forms of abuses by the use of governmental power.

The Social Action arm of the Catholic Church, the National Secretariat for Social Action-Justice and Peace (NASSA), takes special interest in the fate that will befall the FOI bill in the 15th Congress. More than a general right, there is a strong justice aspect to FOI.

Lack of access to public information systematically subjects our marginalized sectors – farmers, fisherfolks, Indigenous peoples, workers and rural and urban poor, particularly the Basic Ecclesial Communities – to become vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation by bad elements in our society.

Unfamiliarity and ignorance of government processes, contracts, activities and services, together with lack of formal education cause deprivation of rights and poverty. Our people then become mere objects of government policies rather than active participants in their own development.

Without access to information, the people are kept in the dark. They remain unaware of the projects and contracts the national and local governments make for them. Our people then eventually tend to develop distrust in government institutions and activities.

The passage and enforcement of FOI would be a great service to the people. It will empower the people, especially the poor, with a new tool of information, which will promote social justice by giving the opportunity for social auditing towards the pursuit of the common good.

It thus saddens many of us that the 15th Congress is about to finish its term, but the FOI bill remains as it has been in previous Congresses: a mere promise.

We did not expect the FOI bill to go this familiar route at the start of the term of President Aquino. While the composition of the 15th Congress is practically the same as that of the 14th Congress that killed the FOI bill, advocates had looked to the President as the game-changer for FOI. His promise as a candidate for president that the passage of the FOI bill will be among his legislative priorities was a source of hope that the FOI bill will finally become law.

President Aquino, however, upon his assumption into office, has sent mixed signals on the FOI. It took him awhile to endorse amendments to address a number of concerns on the bill that he has raised, but that endorsement has not carried with it the same stamp of urgency that has characterized other measures that he has supported vigorously.

Even now, with few session days left in the 15th Congress when his certification can truly make a difference, he has refused to give the FOI bill the prioritization that it needs. This is so surprising since he espouses good governance and transparency. Is he serious in his daang matuwid, or is it just another slogan? What is he afraid of? That the people may know what government is doing?

Still, there is time, and we join the different sectors who continue to push for the passage of the FOI bill.

In the spirit of truth and justice, CBCP-NASSA calls upon the House of Representatives, with or without the certification of urgency from President Aquino, to act on the FOI bill. Needless to say, President Aquino can choose to make a difference by certifying the urgency of the FOI bill.

In calling for the FOI to become a law, we are asking for nothing else than to fulfil the mandate of our Constitution. If citizens do not fulfil the law they are penalized. But if lawmakers do not fulfill the highest law of the land, what is to be done to them?

The May 2013 election is just around the corner. Once again, the President and his candidates under his Liberal Party-led coalition will aspire to seek a fresh mandate, emphasizing that his coalition symbolizes good governance, accountability, and transparency. But this assertion would indeed lack credibility if the FOI Act will remain a pipedream for us Filipinos.

Makati Business Club: Pass FOI, ‘daang matuwid’ will take root

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LET’S HEAR IT from businessmen.

The executive director of the Makati Business Club (MBC), Peter Angelo V. Perfecto, on Friday reiterated his organization’s full support for the immediate passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill in the 15th Congress.

Perfecto, speaking as an MBC executive, said “the MBC reiterates its support for the passage of the FOI bill, which institutionalizes the Constitutional guarantee on every citizen’s right to information and the state policy of full public disclosure of all government transactions involving public interest.”

“We believe that this is an intrinsic element of the type of good governance and daang matuwid, upon which the Aquino administration has anchored its (social) contract with the Filipino people.”

“While we recognize and laud the disclosure mechanisms already being implemented by certain agencies, such as the Department of Budget and Management in the disbursement of public funds, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government with the recent launch of its Full Disclosure Policy Portal,” Perfecto said the MBC sees the importance of the passage of the FOI bill to assure that these reforms are implemented across all public agencies.

“We need the FOI bill,” Perfecto said, “to drive transparency and accountability in governance across all government agencies.”

Additionally, the Philippines needs an FOI bill, he said, “to make sure these mechanisms take toot in the bureaucracy well beyond the current administration.”

Perfecto said his organization welcomes the approval by the Senate of the FOI bill (titled People’s Ownership of Government Information or POGI bill) on third and final reading in December 2012, as well as the approval by the House Committee on Public Information of the lower chamber’s version of the bill. The progress of the bill in the House, albeit on committee level, effectively opens the measure “for plenary debates… bringing the bill closer to its passage.”

Perfecto attended the press conference last Friday of the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition, to represent the MBC.

A private non-stock, non-profit business association organized as a Forum for Constructive Ideas, the MBC was founded in 1981 “to foster and promote the role of the business sector in national development efforts, both in the planning and the implementation of policies.”

The MBC said it is “committed to addressing national economic and social issues that affect the development of the Philippines.

Composed of senior business executives “representing the largest and most dynamic corporations in the Philippines,” the MBC has become “the leading private forum for meetings that bring together business, government, and community leaders in the country.”

Its official website states that the MBC carries out its objectives “through four main lines of activity: policy advocacy, information services and publishing, investment promotion, and corporate citizenship.”

The MBC Board of Trustees for 2012-2013 is led by Ramon R. del Rosario Jr., president and CEO of Philippine Investment Management, Inc., as chairman; Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala II, ?chairman and CEO of Ayala Corporation, and Roberto F. de Ocampo, chairman of the Board of Advisors of the RFO Center for Public Finance and Regional Economic Cooperation, as co-vice chairmen; and Aurelio R. Montinola III?, president and CEO of the Bank of the Philippine Islands, as treasurer.