Bishop calls on lawmakers to pass Freedom of Information bill

MANILA, Philippines - Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo called on lawmakers yesterday to fast-track approval of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill.

Pabillo, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines-National Secretariat for Social Action Justice and Peace (CBCP-Nassa), said an FOI law could have prevented large-scale corruption particularly during the previous administration.

Pabillo’s call came after the discovery of almost P1 billion in unliquidated travel expenses of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her entourage from 2009 to 2010. Arroyo is now a Pampanga congresswoman.

Pabillo said the discovery of the unliquidated cash advances should convince President Aquino to support the immediate passage of the FOI bill.

“This would be our problem if there is no transparency. If there is no transparency, this would have been kept hidden (from the public),”he said.

The Senate finance committee said the unliquidated funds included P594 million spent on foreign and local travels in 2009 alone based on a report from the Commission on Audit (COA).

In a committee hearing, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa said that Malacañang found an additional P367.3 million in cash advances for travel released in year 2010 which remained unliquidated as of Aug. 31, this year.