Category: Media

Want to speak up for FOI? See you at the House today

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LOVE your country and love the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill?

If you do, perhaps you may want to attend the plenary session at 4 p.m. today, Tuesday, of the House of Representatives, Old Batasang Pambansa Complex in Diliman, Quezon City.

Barring further delaying ploys by some lawmakers, the FOI bill is scheduled to be discussed at the House today, starting with a sponsorship speech by Committee on Public Information chairman Rep. Ben Evardone, and hopefully thereafter, quickly, plenary debate may ensue.

Meanwhile, the ranks of FOI advocates continued to grow, with more civil society organizations and leaders speaking up for the immediate passage of the bill in the 15th Congress.

The following organizations have added their voices to the clamor for the FOI bill to pass into law in the last eight session days until Feb.8, when Congress adjourns again for the May 2013 elections.

* Speaking for the Action for Economic Reforms, a lead civil society group in the successful campaign for the sin tax reform, senior economist Jo-Ann Latuja called on Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. to “facilitate the passage of FOI in the same way that he instructed Congress to overwhelmingly approve the Abaya sin tax bill in Congress.” The FOI bill, she said, will “help the effective enforcement of the sin tax bill.”

* Dr. Sylvia Estrada Claudio of Likhaan, a lead civil society group that helped in the passage of the reproductive health (RH) law, said that access to information by having the law on FOI is also crucial for the implementation of the RH law.

“The RH law is about giving the people, especially the women, a choice. People can make correct choices or will be aware of the consequences of their choices if information is made available to them,” she said.

According to Claudio, the FOI bill “promotes a culture of openness or transparency in the bureaucracy, which in turn, will benefit citizens who wish to get information and education related to RH from the government.”

* Ms Cielo Magno, executive director of Bantay Kita, a national civil society coalition made up of more than 80 organizations that monitor revenues in the extractive industries and which is represented in the multi-stakeholder group for the Philippine Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), said that a law on freedom of information is “a necessary component of EITI, and it is the key to the EITI’s success.”

The EITI international community, she said, will laud a law on access to information, which “will complement EITI.”

Earlier, many other major civil society groups have issued separate statements exhorting Belmonte and House leaders to assure quick passage of the FOI bill in the 15th Congress.

They include the FOI Youth Initiative of 68 student councils and youth organizations; a group of professors, deans, and a university president from various colleges and universities; the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ social action arm NASSA-JP; the Makati Business Club through its executive director Peter Angelo V. Perfecto; a group of 10 Netizens and bloggers; the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines; the Kapisanan ng mga Brokaster sa Pilipinas; and the Philippine Press Institute.

‘Command negligence,’ FOI proponents fume

Ed Lingao Leave a comment

COMMAND NEGLIGENCE.

This, according to members of the Right to Know Right Now Coalition, is the crime that Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and Majority Floor Leader Neptali Gonzalez III should be held accountable after Congress again failed to tackle the Freedom of Information bill.

In a statement released to the media after coalition members walked out of today’s Congress session, the coalition said it was holding the House leadership primarily responsible if the FOI again fails to make it through the legislative mill.

Coalition lead convenor Nepomuceno Malaluan said there was more than enough time for Congress to tackle the bill if only the House leadership committed itself to exercise true transparency and accountability. For example, Malaluan said that even without an outright endorsement by President Benigno S. Aquino III of the bill, the chamber was well within its rights to mark the bill as urgent.

Malaluan said that so far, Congress has only exhibited a clear “pattern of delays” that betrays the true position of Congress when it comes to transparency.

The Coalition statement follows:

HOUSE FAILS THE PEOPLE YET AGAIN
 
 
We express our indignation over the House leadership’s lack of responsiveness on the FOI bill.
 
We came to the session today anticipating the sponsorship of the FOI committee report, only to be frustrated again with its non-inclusion in the Order of Business.
 
The Committee Report has been referred to the Rules Committee in the session last December 18 yet, and given the lack of material time for the bill’s consideration, we were expecting that the House leadership would not let a session day pass that the FOI bill is not tackled.
 
Today’s non-inclusion of the FOI bill in the Order of Business, even for just its sponsorship, is just the latest in the pattern of delays that has beset the FOI bill in the 15th Congress.
 
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. 
 
Belmonte, however, prevailed upon the group to allow Evardone to call the hearing instead, which allowed Evardone to further delay committee action.
 
Belmonte could make up for lost time by acting decisively on the FOI bill on te FOI bill in the nine session days beginning today. Allowing its sponsorship today would have been an indication of a new resolve on FOI.
 
Speaker Belmonte has failed us again.
 
Still, consistent with our continuing demand and assertion of our right to information, we will continue to closely monitor the House action on FOI up to the last session day on February 6.

 

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

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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.