Why the is FOI Bill not gaining ground?

EDITORIAL

With the series of exposes and Senate investigations on misuse of the PDAF (priority assistance development funds by senators and congressmen among other government officials, concerned sectors are pressing both Houses to finally implement Freedom of Information (FOI) law.  

Earlier in 2013, the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition, a multi-sectoral alliance pushing for passage of the Freedom of Information Bill, filed its own version of the measure through indirect initiative provision of Republic Act No. 6735 or the Initiative and Referendum Law.

More than half a year later, the House Committee on Public Information has yet to schedule a Technical Working Group (TWG) to consolidate different versions of the FOI bill, which includes the one filed by the coalition.

However, amid the delay in processes in the House, the group scored a victory by being appointed as member of the TWG.Former Quezon Rep. Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III and Coalition convenor Nepomuceno Malaluan, a lawyer, wrote to Public Information Committee Chairman Jorge Almonte saying “petitioners should be accorded recognition as authors of a pending FOI bill, pursuant to Section 11 of RA 6735 which states in part that: The procedure to be followed on the initiative bill shall be the same as the enactment of any legislative measure before the House of Representatives except that the said initiative bill shall have precedence over the pending legislative measures on the committee.”

Almonte granted the group’s request to be invited to the TWG. “We thank the Chairman of the Committee and we look forward to working with him and his members. We sincerely hope that our proposed People’s FOI Act will be given the same treatment and recognition that it got in the Senate,” said Malaluan.

 “Our involvement shows our intention to strengthen people’s participation in legislation. With this, we commit to engage the process constructively in order to finally pass a law that will institutionalize transparency and accountability in government,” he added.

 “This is one step forward for the People’s FOI,” said Tañada, who was the principal author of the bill in the 15th Congress. “Our role here is to emphasize that this measure is not only for a particular sector, but for each and every Filipino.”Tañada said “it is high time for the FOI to be passed.”

“We’ve waited long enough. Let us not repeat the same excuses from previous Congresses. With the different issues involving the misuse of public funds, we need the People’s FOI Act to shine a cleansing light on the darkest nooks and crannies of government,” he said.

If the FOI Bill is not being ratified, the answer is obvious -- in a senator or a congressman’s SUV, mansion or high end mistress.