GOOD GOVERNANCE ADVOCACY
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
The
Oro Youth Development Council together with the National Youth Commission,
Xavier University Governance and Leadership Institute, BALAOD ATENISTA and The
MUST Student Government organized the first Citywide forum on the Youth’s role
in public accountability which centers on the Freedom of Information Bill on
November 25, 2016 at the Mindanao University of Science and Technology
Engineering Complex AVR .
The forum was participated by High School student leaders,
college student governments, political science students and other members of
the Oro Youth Development Council network.
The OYDC advocates for good governance and it believes that the passage of an FOI bill addresses concretely the desire of the people to have an accountable and transparent government. Corrupt politicians will find lesser incentive in hiding their trails since the process is open up to the public. In the long-run, it discourages the political culture to burry their evil design and all together discourages corrupt politicians to aspire for office.
The forum highlights how a modern democracy can be strengthened
because the law mandates prompt release of information under the pain of
penalties. It also penalizes selective and uneven release of information and
specifically enumerates the exceptions.
Rappler, a social news network, noted these
common features in the laws they studied:- an
overall policy making information available
- limits
of access
- prescribed
process by which information may be accessed, cost of access, and
processes for appealing request refusals
- in
recent cases measures to ensure that access policies are enforced through
oversight bodies and penalty clauses
The official government website, gov.ph also provides with
these basic question and answer.
Q
AND A
Who can ask for information?
Every Filipino citizen.
To whom can we ask for information?
All government agencies (specifically defined
under section 3 of the proposed bill).
What information will be made available?
All information pertaining to official acts,
transactions, or decisions, as well as government
research data used as a basis
for policy development, regardless of its physical form or format.
What information will remain classified? (See Section 7 for specific details.)
- Information
specifically authorized to be kept secret under guidelines established by
an executive order, and properly classified.
- The
records of minutes and advice given and opinions expressed during
decision-making or policy formulation, invoked by the Chief Executive to
be privileged by reason of the sensitivity.
- Information
pertaining to internal and/or external defense, law enforcement, and
border control.
- Drafts
of orders, resolutions, decisions, memoranda, or audit reports by any
executive, administrative, regulatory, constitutional, judicial, or
quasi-judicial body.
- Information
obtained by any committee of either house of Congress in executive
session.
- Personal
information of a natural person other than the requesting party. (See
Section 6f for details.)
- Information
pertaining to trade secrets and commercial or financial information that
would seriously prejudice industrial, financial, or commercial
competition. (See Section 6g for details.)
- Information
classified as privileged communications in legal proceedings by law or by
the Rules of Court.
- Information
exempted by law or the Constitution.
What are the advantages of this bill compared
to the prior bills filed in Congress?
- This
proposed bill expanded access to financial information, such as SALNs of
government officials, and access to other kinds of information, such as
transactions by incorporating a provision making the posting/publication
mandatory. (See list in Sections 7 and 8.)
- The
public is spared the tedious work of trying to access certain information
from different agencies when the information is made available in one
portal, the Official Gazette website (www.gov.ph)
being the official publication for the following information:
– Important legislative acts and resolutions
of a public nature of the Congress of the Philippines;
– Executive and administrative orders and proclamations of general application;
– Decisions or abstracts of decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals or other courts of similar rank, as may be deemed of sufficient importance to be so published;
– Such documents or classes of documents as the President shall determine to have general application.
– Executive and administrative orders and proclamations of general application;
– Decisions or abstracts of decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals or other courts of similar rank, as may be deemed of sufficient importance to be so published;
– Such documents or classes of documents as the President shall determine to have general application.
- The
bill asks government agencies to translate key information into major
Filipino languages and present them in popular form and means.
- All
government agencies are required to prepare a Freedom of Information
Manual that will contain details and procedures and serve as a guide on
the matter.
- The
bill integrates open data provisions, which mandates a regular and
pro-active release of government data in open and machine-readable
formats.
Procedure of access (Refer to Section 18 for specifics on the matter.)
1. Request
Submit a request to the government agency
concerned either personally, by mail, or through electronic means.
2. Receiving
The request will be stamped by the government
agency, indicating the date, time, and other details of receipt (refer to
Section 16b). In case the request is submitted by electronic means, the
government agency shall provide for an equivalent means by which the
requirements shall be met.
3. Waiting time
The government agency shall comply with such
request as soon as practicable, and in any case within 15 working days from
receipt. The period may be extended for specific cases. (Refer to Section 16e.)
4. Notification
The government agency shall, in writing or
through electronic means, notify the person making the request of the
extension, the reasons for extension, and the date the information will be made
available (no more than 20 working days).
5. Grant and
Payment
Once a decision is made to grant the request,
the person making the request shall be notified of such and pay the required
access and processing fees.
What will happen if my request is not granted?
- The
government agency shall notify the person making the request of such
denial in writing or through electronic means within 15 working days from
the receipt of the request.
- The
notice shall clearly set forth the ground for denial and the circumstances
on which the denial is based. Failure to notify shall be deemed a denial
of the request for access to information.
- Following
the proper procedure, denial of a request for access to information may be
appealed to the head of agency, then Ombudsman, then a verified petition
for mandamus may be filed in the proper court.
- The
Judiciary shall however will be governed by such remedies as promulgated
by the Supreme Court.
Is the Admin Bill a watered down version of
the previously filed bills in Congress?
- No.
The Admin Bill in fact expanded the list of mandatory information for
disclosure, provided a specific procedure for access, stated the
exemptions in a very clear and transparent manner, and directed that the
exemptions are to be strictly construed.
What is the status of FOI?
- Now
that the FOI has been approved on the committee level in both the Senate
and House, the bill will be taken up in plenary.
How does FOI relate to the other governance
reforms under the Aquino Good Governance and Anti-Corruption Plan 2012-2016?
- Greater access to information will, in general, empower citizens to hold their public officials accountable and to participate in government processes that are being opened to them by this administration. For instance, greater access to information on government projects through open governance initiatives such as Open Data Philippnes will allow civil society organizations to make more meaningful and accurate inputs to the Participatory Budget and Participatory Audit processes that this administration has initiated. The mandatory posting of SALNs will also empower our government investigators and their citizen-partners to run after corrupt officials.
Sources
(1) Senate Bill No. 1733
(2) House Bill No. 3237
(3) 1987 Constitution
(4) Proposed bill – FOI Act of 2013
