WHAT ARE the chances of a Freedom of Information (FOI) law being passed in Congress this year? Slim.
Our senators and congressmen will likely spend most of their time in ensuring the passage of the 2019 General Appropriations Act and their reelection bids for the 2019 polls.
Even as we acknowledge the giant step forward afforded President Duterte’s executive order on Freedom of Information issued in 2016, this only covers the executive branch. And it is littered with over a hundred exceptions. The legislative branch should not pause even for a moment in passing a law on FOI. Our legislators must sustain the momentum.
While the right to information has been held by the courts to be executory, it is difficult to enforce in practice. There is no standard procedure in dealing with requests. There is no law clarifying the exact scope of the right. The state policy requiring government to fully disclose transactions involving public interest does not have the implementing mechanics. There are no effective sanctions to deter or make accountable the violation of the right. As a result, requests for information are routinely disregarded or denied based on arbitrary exceptions.
Freedom of information is also a necessary condition for the effective exercise of other rights by the people. The freedom of the press, of speech and expression, as well as the right to petition the government for redress of grievances can only be fully and responsibly exercised by an informed press and citizenry. The same is true for the right of the people and their organizations to effective and reasonable participation at all levels of social, political, and economic decision making.
Only when we finally have an FOI law will we make the constitutional right to know and the state policy of full disclosure of transactions involving public interest fully operable. Without proper information, we cannot hold public officials accountable for anything. Freedom of information gives flesh to the principle that public office is a public trust. Thus we cannot overemphasize the vital role that an FOI law will play in the maturation of Philippine society and politics.
