'With Noy's openness, who needs FOI bill?'

MANILA, Philippines - With President Aquino’s openness and transparency, is the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill still needed?

Aquino’s media managers seemed to have taken this view on the FOI bill during initial budget deliberations of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO) and the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).

Sen. Franklin Drilon, Senate finance committee chairman, grilled PCDSPO chief Ricky Carandang over his office’s proposed P68.7-million budget for next year.

“With the attitude of the President to the press, I don’t think there is a need for FOI. Just kidding,” he said.

The committee then proceeded with the scrutiny of the P1.3-billion budget for the PCOO under Herminio Coloma.

In an interview, Coloma said that non-government organizations pushing for the passage of the FOI bill were concerned about its long-term effect.

“They want to institutionalize it,” he said.

“So that there will be public accountability, transparency and openness of the government, which is why they are pursuing the enactment of the FOI bill.

“While the law is pending in Congress, for us, we are preparing and practicing the principles (of FOI) because that is the mandate for our President to open up the government (to the people).

“So that the people’s support will be strengthened, they expect that the government will be transparent and open,” Coloma said.

Coloma said the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) is tasked to promote the administration’s development program until 2016.

When asked about the proposed sale of Broadcast City, Coloma said in 2010, Intra-continental Broadcasting Corp. (IBC)-13, had entered into a joint venture with a firm affiliated with the R2 Builders Group of Reghis Romero.

“When we submitted our 2011 budget proposal, our attention was called to observations that the agreement may be suffering some deficiencies in law,” he said. “It may have not been the best agreement for the government.”

Coloma said the joint venture was an offshoot of efforts of past administrations to look into the call of the IBC employees’ union for payment of back wages and benefits amounting to P278 million.

“When we assumed responsibility... it was also operating at a deficit,” he said.

Coloma said the IBC management pursued the talks with R2 Builders for the development and eventual sale of IBC-13’s 3.6-hectare property as part of the joint venture.

The IBC property will fetch up to P800 million at about P10,000 to P11,000 per square meter, he added. 

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile also posed questions on whether the pricing of the land was appropriate, considering that the nearby exclusive subdivision, Ayala Heights, is way beyond the projected price for the IBC property.

Drilon said he will await the opinion of the Government Corporate Counsel on the issue.

The PCOO and PCDSPO budgets have been referred to the plenary, he added.