House debates on FOI bill to start soon

Plenary debates on the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill in the House of Representatives are expected to start in the coming weeks after the chamber’s appropriations committee approved the proposed budget of the landmark measure.

Authors sent the measure to the Bills and Index Service for referral to the committee on rules, which will calendar the measure for second reading approval.

The FOI Bill, filed under House Bill 5801, is a consolidation of over 20 measures filed by several lawmakers. The bill was approved by the House committee on public information late last year.

Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, one of its authors, said he hopes the House would pass the bill before Congress adjourns on June 11.

“This (approval by the appropriations panel) is a major step and there’s no other way the FOI Bill is headed but the plenary for approval,” Castelo said.

“We are looking forward to the plenary debates on the bill which are certainly bound to be challenging,” Akbayan partylist Rep. Barry Gutierrez, also an author, said in a statement.

“We are already prepared to answer any and all questions relating to the various issues and concerns about the FOI,” Gutierrez said.

He said he remains optimistic that the bill would be approved on second reading before Congress adjourns.

The FOI Bill seeks to make available for public scrutiny, copying and reproduction all information pertaining to official acts, transactions or decisions as well as government research data used as basis for policy development.

It covers all government offices in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches as well as constitutional bodies.

The transparency measure, however, also makes certain exemptions, which include information specifically authorized to be kept secret, such as those relating to national security, records of minutes and opinions expressed during the policy-for-information mulation invoked by the President as privileged, information gathered by any congressional committee in executive session, and whose disclosure will constitute unwarranted invasion of privacy.