Congressional support for the enactment of a Freedom of Information (FOI) law during the 16th Congress continues to gain ground at the House of Representatives with the filing of another such proposal.
Rep. Gus Tambunting (2nd District, Parañaque City) filed House Bill 3004 or the proposed “People’s Freedom of Information Act of 2013,” saying the people’s access to information held by government is necessary in the exercise of the people’s right to effective and reasonable participation at all levels of decision-making affecting the nation.
Earlier, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. assured that during his term, the country will have an FOI law.
Tambunting, a first-term lawmaker, said the latest controversy regarding the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) that has shaken the nation pushed the people back to the streets and cried their sentiment, anger and unprecedented opinion against the institution.
“Indeed, the pork-barrel scam calls upon us legislators to respond to the apprehension of the people in the proper disbursement of public funds through a transparent mechanism. Hence, enabling the people to exercise their right to information will assure a vigilant public against unscrupulous government officials from committing atrocity against the integrity of our nation. Moreover, this will stand as a staunch reminder to all government officials and employees of their duty to the people as well as their obligation to always act for the benefit of the people,” Tambunting said.
Tambunting explained that the right of the people to information held by government should not only be recognized but should be accessible through the adoption and implementation of a policy of full public disclosure of all its transactions.
The former vice mayor of Parañaque City said “Public office is a public trust” is the very principle declared in the Constitution that should embody each public officer and each government employee.
“As public servants, we are entrusted with power but endowed with the responsibility to be accountable at all times to the people whom we owe our very title and position. Furthermore, as a State principle, it is with the people whom our sovereignty resides, and thus, all government authority emanates from them. Clearly, the people are our boss – and we are answerable to them. The FOI bill has long been overdue and now it is timely for its passage into law,” Tambunting said.
House Bill 3004 provides it is the declared policy of the State to recognize the right of the people to information on matters of public concern and adopts and implements a policy of full public disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest, subject to the procedures and limitations provided by the proposed Act. This right is meant to enhance the significant and widening role of the citizenry in governmental decision-making as well as in checking abuse in government.
It further provides that public officials and employees in the performance of their duties under the proposed Act, as well as citizens in the exercise of their rights under the bill, shall act with justice, give everyone his or her due, and observe honesty and good faith. Public officials and employees as well as citizens hall endeavor to handle information kept or obtained under this Act with due care, to the end that inaccuracies and distortions are avoided.
The proposed Act shall cover all government agencies. Government agency or agencies shall include the executive, legislative and judicial branches as well as constitutional bodies of the Republic of the Philippine, including but not limited to the national government and all its agencies, departments, bureaus, offices and instrumentalities, constitutional commissions and constitutionally mandated bodies, local governments and all their agencies, regulatory agencies, chartered institutions, government-owned or controlled corporations, including wholly-owned or controlled subsidiaries, government financial institutions, state universities and colleges, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police, all offices in the Congress of the Philippines including the offices of Senators and Representatives, the Supreme Court and all lower courts established by law.
Public service contractors or any other entity shall make their records available to the public insofar as they are related to any contract or transactions that they have with the government or government agencies, provided, that such contracts or transactions are of the highest public interest by reason of the amounts involved and the impact of the transaction to the public.
The bill defines “Information” as any record, document, paper, report, letter, contract, minutes, transcript, map, book, photograph, film, sound and video recording, magnetic or other tape, electronic data, computer stored data, or any other like or similar material recorded, stored or archived in whatever form or format, which: (i) are made or received by, or kept under the control or custody of, any government agency pursuant to law, executive order, rules and regulations, ordinance, or in connection with the performance or transaction of official business by any government agency or official; (ii) are part of official or public records in the custody of government agencies or officials; (iii) record, evidence, establish, confirm, support, justify, or explain official acts, transactions or decisions of government agencies or officials; or (iv) are part of research data, whether raw, collated or processed, in the custody of the government and used in formulating government policies;
It provides that every person who is a Filipino citizen has a right to and shall, on request, be given access to any information under the control of a government agency, regardless of the physical form or format in which these are contained, subject only to the exceptions provided in the bill.
There shall be a legal presumption in favor of access to information. Accordingly, government agencies shall have the burden of proving that the information requested is exempted from disclosure by the proposed Act.
Any person who wishes to obtain information shall submit, free of charge, a request to the government agency concerned personally, by mail, or through electronic means. A person who is unable, because of illiteracy or disability, to make a written request may make an oral request, and the public official who receives the oral request shall reduce it to writing and give a copy thereof to the person who made the request, the bill provides.
If the government agency decides to deny the request, in whole or in part, it shall, as soon as practicable and in any case within 15 days from the receipt of the request, notify the requester of the denial in writing or through electronic means. The notice shall indicate the name, rank, title or position of the person making the denial, clearly set forth the ground/s and circumstances on which the denial is based, and indicate available rights of reconsideration or appeal.
The bill also provides for the following: exceptions on access to information; remedies in cases of denial of information request; mandatory disclosure by national officials of their Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) on an annual basis in their official websites; mandatory uploading by all agencies of all branches of government on their websites a register of the public interest transactions, documents or records, which shall be updated monthly; compliant websites of all government agencies within two years of effectivity of the proposed Act; preparation and regular updating by all government agencies of a People’s Freedom of Information (FOI) Manual; administrative liability; and criminal liability.
Source: http://www.congress.gov.ph/
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