FOI BILL: Transparency with reservations

The right to information of every Filipino has long been permitted in the 1987 Constitution. Bills have been filed since the 12th Congress seeking to implement the FOI in all government branches but were just bypassed due to the "concerns" of some lawmakers. Many administrations have preceded but none has ever put FOI to life. It has been 29 years, why the delay?

The Freedom of Information Bill also known as FOI Bill simply calls for transparency within all government agencies. It permits access to information by every Filipino, rich or poor, blue collared or not, it allows power especially to the least powerful in the country.

July 24th of this year, an Executive Order has been issued by President Rodrigo Duterte to implement the FOI in the executive branch. This garnered the attention from the public and the media because of the fact that it was a rare occasion to issue an executive order on a bill that is not even on the priority list of the precedent administrations.

The EO says: "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,"

However, the Executive Order will cover all government offices under the executive branch alone. But there are arguments that Congress and the judiciary should have their own versions of the FOI. I concur to that.

The power of the FOI should not be limited to one branch of the government solely. Although this could be a great start for a progressive FOI, it wouldn't be enough to attain the goal of transparency that has been wanted and pushed for the last 29 years. Transparency would never be transparency if the limitations are unreasonable and invalidated.

At a forum about the FOI during the Cebu Press Freedom Week, it was discussed that there are 166 exceptions presented to Congress believed to be information which either are a threat to national security, privacy or commercial interest. These information or exceptions, if proven, should never be disclosed to the public.

The FOI now, which calls for transparency, cannot be ultimately transparent due to this limitation.

I concur to the statement that there should be limitations to the information disclosed to the public to maintain a balance of power. But we should all make sure all the information included in the exceptions are valid and constitutional.

Reviews within Congress and the judiciary would not be enough. Therefore, they should disclose these exceptions to the public to let the public be the judge.