Online campaign for passage for FOI bill launched

Members of various interest groups on Wednesday called on netizens to sign and share an online petition for the passage of the controversial Freedom of Information bill.

Groups like the Makati Business Club and Philippine Press Institute, as well as organizations belonging to the Right to Know Right Now Coalition (R2KRN) said there is a need to legislate ease of access to information in government

“With only a little more than two years remaining in the term of President Aquino, and with the Presidential elections just around the corner, the FOI Bill remains pending at the Committee level at the House of Representatives,” the petition said.

“With time running out, we invite you to join us in expressing our collective clamor for President Aquino and Speaker Belmonte to exercise leadership and act decisively to pass the FOI Bill,” it added.

The groups that launched the initiative said all signatures culled from the campaign will be sent to President Aquino and House Speaker Sonny Belmonte Jr. a week before Aquino’s State of the Nation Address in July.

The FOI, which seeks to grant the public easier access to information, has yet to be consolidated at the committee level in the lower House.

Earlier, the Senate approved the FOI on third and final reading, leaving the House to catch up with the legislative process.

However, the House "killed" the FOI bill on the floor, after more than a year of its languishing at the public information committee. — Patricia Denise Chiu/BM, GMA News