COMMENTARY: 2015 will be a reckoning of promises on FOI

A few days before he was proclaimed president-elect, on June 9, 2010, then Senator Benigno S. Aquino III was asked by a reporter whether passage of the Freedom of Information Act will be a priority of his administration. Aquino responded:

"Yes, iba pa rin iyong ano e, may force of law. So that would be I think the more complete route. Pero kailangang pag-aralan nga kung pupuwede dun sa suggestion na Executive Order."

Four years into his administration and with the FOI still pending in Congress, business leader Ramon del Rosario followed-up on the promise during the July 15, 2014 Daylight Dialogue held in Malacañang. Mr. Del Rosario expounded:

"The second Mr. President is a long standing issue that I have brought to your attention early in your administration and this is the Freedom of Information bill. The context there is this. We think that this administration has done much more in terms of transparency than all the other administrations that we have seen, and I think those gains really need to be preserved and pursued into the future. I think one way by which these reforms can be preserved is of course to institutionalize them. We realize that there are many areas where confidentiality is required -- that there are national security concerns, that there are concerns related to executive privilege, and concerns of that nature. But I guess realizing all of these concerns there is still the feeling among the advocates that it really is necessary to institutionalize the gains in terms of transparency that have been already achieved. So my question, simply Mr. President, is can we have your assurance that within the course of your term, before the end of your term, that the Freedom of Information bill will in fact be passed?"

President Aquino answered:

"I join you as somebody who was frustrated in the search for information previously especially when I was in the legislature. There is a need for that. And we have suggested to Congress certain amendments to the proposed measures that will make it really a doable activity for government. I regret I cannot certify it as urgent because the constitution requires an emergency. But the assurance I think should be given at this point in time that it will be passed before the end of my term."

For his part, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, at around the time that the Senate approved the FOI bill on Third Reading in March 2014, boldly proclaimed: “Ang ipinangako ko talaga is during the 16th Congress. Bitayin ninyo ako kung matapos ito at hindi pa nakakapasa.â€Â

If only our leaders are determined to keep their promise on FOI, it can still be realized. The Senate has approved its version on Third Reading more than a year ago. The House Committee on Public Information has filed its committee report last May 25, 2015, and the chairperson and authors have expressed their readiness to sponsor and defend the bill in plenary anytime that it is put on the agenda.

The more preponderant evidence, however, is that the passage of the bill does not really enjoy the decisive commitment of our leaders. On the part of President Aquino, his refusal to give FOI a push early in his administration has encouraged its dribbling in the 15th Congress.

On the part of Speaker Belmonte, his public pronouncements have not been matched by positive action. The recent statement by the Speaker's chief lieutenant and enforcer, House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales, that there is now a slim chance for the FOI bill to pass indicates where the Speaker truly stands.

This is really tragic, given that the public interest embodied in passing the FOI bill is beyond question.

What we ask for is simple. We seek an FOI law that will complement the constitutional right to information with the substantive and procedural details for a far more effective and predictable enforcement.

Concretely, the FOI bill provides a limited list of exceptions and the standard of harm necessary for the exceptions to apply, that will reduce the wide latitude of government in claiming exceptions. It lays down a definite procedure for responding to requests. It defines acts subject to administrative and criminal sanctions, providing both deterrence and accountability for violations of the right. It requires agencies to proactively publish important classes of information without need for request, establish record keeping standards, implement capacity building programs, and even include FOI in the school curriculum.

We want to address the problems of long delays, total inaction, request letters lost, unanswered phone calls or directing and redirecting of calls and queries, lack of records, excuse of need for clearance from superiors, and so on, that we face when we ask for information from government agencies.

Our vision is for an FOI Act to pave the way for transforming the right to information into a real power of the people to participate in decision-making, to secure related rights and to make government and its officials accountable for the use of taxpayer money and the exercise of authority.

On Monday, July 27, President Aquino will deliver his last State of the Nation Address as Congress opens its final regular session. If only our leaders will choose to keep their promise, and take a path of legacy and institutionalization of a transformative reform, they will tackle the FOI bill alongside BBL and mobilize Congress for the measure's immediate passage.

Atty. Nepo Malaluan is Co-Director of the Institute for Freedom of Information, a partnership program of the Action for Economic Reforms (AER) and the Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism. He is Co-Convener of the Right to Know. Right Now! Coalition, a network of more than 150 organizations that is at the forefront of the campaign for the passage of a Freedom of Information Act in the Philippines. He is one of the founding Trustees, and presently Corporate Secretary, of AER, an independent policy analysis and advocacy organization working on macroeconomic and governance issues.