House FOI bill seen making it to Second Reading before Congress adjourns June 10

The Freedom of Information (FOI) bill in the House of Representatives is now House Bill No. 5801, which that chamber's committee on public information has endorsed for plenary action on second reading before Congress ends its current session on June 10.

 

"We are looking forward to the plenary debates on the bill which are certainly bound to be challenging. But we are already prepared to answer any and all questions relating to the various issues and concerns about the FOI,”  Akbayan Rep. Barry Gutierrez said on Monday.

 

Last May 12, the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition urged the House to commence second reading and debate on the bill “with Sponsorship completed and Period of Interpellation substantially started by Adjournment Sine Die.”

 

The coalition is well aware of the other legislative priorities that can affect the life of the FOI bill in the weeks and months ahead.

 

“Only four weeks remain of the second regular session that ends on June 11. Congress and the Executive have enrolled the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law or BBL as their top legislative priority during the period. After adjourning on June 12, Congress will only resume session on July 27, when President Aquino will deliver his last state of the nation address,” the coalition said.

 

2016 political realities will soon set in. “The FOI bill will then have to compete for time with other pending measures, foremost of which will be the 2016 budget. By the time of filing of candidacy in October 2015, legislators and other elected officials will also expectedly devote increasing attention to electoral matters,” the coalition also said.

 

Rep. Gutierrez said HB 5801 is the result of detailed work by the technical working group tasked to consolidate various bills filed about FOI. 

 

"The TWG devoted nine meetings to deliberating the bill line-by-line, particularly on the exceptions. Not only did we make sure that each exception (was) related to protecting an acceptable, legitimate and clearly stated public interest, we also adopted strong safeguards to counter any tendency to abuse those exceptions," Gutierrez said.

 

According to The Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition and the bill's authors, the consolidated measure   “is a genuine and strong FOI bill that fully protects the people's right to information while carefully balancing it with legitimate interests of individuals, the state and the bureaucracy.”

 

The Senate's counterpart bill has passed third reading and awaits the approved House version at bicameral conference committee.  — ELR, GMA News