Tuesday, |uly 9, 2019
Hope springs eternal Lawmaker says passage
of FOI bill rests on members of 18th Congress
BY JovEE MARrE N. DELA CRUZ
, Y @joyeemarie
A LAWMAKER has exoressed
/\ hooe that a Freedom oflnfor-
fL*",lor, (FOI) Iaw will finally
pass this 18th Congress, ormorethan
30 years after the 1978 Constitution
mandated the right to information.
Cebu Rep. Raul del Mar said he
filed House Bill12 to put in place the
enabling law necessary to implement
the constitutional provision on the
right ofthe people to information on
matters of public concerns.
Citing the 1987 Constitution, del
Mav said cifizens shallbe a Fforded ac-
cess to official records, and to papers
and documents pertaining to official
transactions, acts, or decisions, as well
as govern ment resear ch data used as
basis for policy development.
The FOI Act was passed several
times inprevious congresses butfailed
to reach Lhe Olfice o[ the PresidenL as
both chambers failed to harmonize
their versiohs.
Theproposed law rovers ailgovern
mentagencies in theExecut ive, Legjsla-
tive, and Judicial branches, including
departments,bu reaus,offices,agencies
and instrumentalities of the national
govern ment; ConsliLutiona I Commis-
sions and constitutionally mandated
bodies; local government units and
their agencies; regulatory agencies:
chartered institutionsi government-
owned- and -controlled corporations;
f inancialinstitutions; state universities
and colleges; the Armed Forces of the
Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine
National Police (PNP); all offices in the
Congress of the Philippines, including
the offices of the senators and repre-
sentatives; and the Supreme Court.
It mandates the President, Vice
President, Members of the Cabiner,
Justices of Supreme Court. Member's of
Constitutional Commissions andotber
constitutional offices, and Officers of
the'Armed Forces of the Philippines
with general or flag rank to make their
annual Statement of Assets, Liabilities
and Net Worth (SALN) declaration
available and accessible in the official
web site of their respective offices.
Under the bill, all agencies and'
branches of the government are re-
quired to publish in theirweb sites and
update on a monthly basis the follow-
ing information in full: FOI manual;
rules ofprocedure, descriptionof forms
available, the places at which forms
may be obtained, and instructions as
to the scope and contents ofall papers,
reports, or examinations; substantive
rules of general applicability adopted
as authorized by law, and statements
of general policy or interpretation of
general applicability formulated and
adoptedbythe agency, includingsubse-
quent amendments; public documents
or records to include, ahong others,
annualbudget of government agencies,
summaryof expenditures,summaryof
income and expenditures, and public
funding e*tendedto anypdvate entity,
Moreover, the measure said all
government agencies are directed to
publish in the Open Data Philippines
web site, datasets generated in the
implementation of agency mandates,
programs, activities, and projects for
the purpose ofenhancing the public's
accessto governmentinformationand'
abiding by the international commit-
ments of the Philippines to transpar-
ency and government openness.
It added every Filipino citizen
has a right to and shal1, upon re-
quest, be given access to anyrecord
undert!e control of a government
agency unless the information
is specifically authorized to be
kept secret under guidelines es-
tablished by an executive order,
and properly classified pursuant
thereto; the in fo r m aI io n d
investigatory records complied
for law enforcement purposes or
information which are contained
in sucb records; and the infor-
mation pertains to a testimony,
document, or discussion obtained
during an executive session ofthe
Congress ofthe Philippines orany
of its committees.
Themeasure saidaccess toinforma-
tion shallbe denied ifthe information
pertains to the personal information
of a naturalperson, whetherfrom the
public or private sector, and its dis-
closure constitutes an unwarranted
invasion of personal privacy; the in-
formation pertains to trade secrets,
commercia I or financial information,
orintellectualpropertyobtainedfrom
a natural or juridical person other
than the requesting party; and the
information is classified as privileged
comm\rnications in legal proceedings
bylaw or by the Rules of Court.
It said access to information that
is exempted from disclosure by the
Constitution orlaw; andwhenpresum-
ably disclosed, tlie informationwould,
in case of a government agency that
regulates financial institutions and
the financiaimarkets thattheydealin
likelylead to fraud, manipulation, or
otherunlawf ulacts orschemes involv-
is.loses ing financial instruments or, in case
of other government agencies, likely
impede the effective implementation
of aproposedof ficial action sha1l, like-
wise, be denied, Pja=/3