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Coalition holds rally for ‘FOI Bill death’
(Updated 4:03 p.m.) The Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition held an indignation rally on Wednesday marking what the group labeled as the “death” of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill.
According to Coalition co-convenor Atty. Nepo Malaluan, they consider the FOI Bill dead after waiting for so long for the Bill to be passed by legislators.
“The passage of the FOI Act is important in order for citizens to be able to fully exercise their constitutional right to information,” he said.
“The passage of the FOI Act is important in order for citizens to be able to fully exercise their constitutional right to information,” he said.
“We put the blame squarely on President Aquino for his lack of support, and on Speaker Belmonte and House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales for their continued inaction,” he said.
Rally participants assembled along España Avenue in Manila around 2 p.m. before marching toward Mendiola for a program scheduled up to 5 p.m.
The FOI Bill which has already been passed in the Senate is a measure that seeks to promote transparency in government data and transactions. Still, it remains at the committee level at the House of Representatives which the coalition sees as its intentional non-passage under the Aquino administration.
"We have seen the President and the Speaker marshal the administration coalition for measures they want to prioritize,” Malaluan said.
“On the FOI Bill, in more than five years of the President's term and in two terms of the House of Representatives under Speaker Belmonte, we have only heard occasional lip service but not observed their decisive action,” he continued.
Aquino earlier placed the FOI Bill under the list of priority measures for legislation but this did not convince the coalition which believed the Aquino administration will remain passive on its passage.
Due to this, the coalition said they will take it up to themselves to start practicing FOI.
They said they will begin by reviewing the Commission on Audit's special audit of the Priority Development Assistance Fund from 2007 to 2009.
Aside from this they will make regular reports to the public on the progress of their FOI Practice initiatives. —Andrei Medina/KG, GMA News
