Lawmakers urged to vote on FOI bill

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang appealed to lawmakers not to be absent and vote on the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill, just like the Reproductive Health (RH) bill that has been pending before Congress for sometime.

Secretary Manuel Mamba, head of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office, said President Aquino had been reminding lawmakers of the need to have these bills passed no matter how controversial they were.

Mamba, however, said the right of reply bill or provision in the FOI bill was being pushed by its proponents to compel the media to give people they criticize or expose equal space and time to air their side and defend themselves.

He said the elections in May were also a factor to the decision of the lawmakers both on the FOI and RH bills.

The Catholic Church is against the RH bill while according to sources, officials are afraid the FOI bill will force them to open up records that can be used against them during elections.

Mamba said they were working hard to reach a consensus and would not want to end up as losers when these bills were put to a vote.

“We are still hoping that these (bills) will be passed,” Mamba said, quoting the President as telling the lawmakers they were the leaders of the land so “don’t be absent” and do what the people were expecting from them.

“They are avoiding a vote and we are having a problem on the quorum,” Mamba said.

He said they were aware of the delaying tactics and the nearer the elections, the harder it would be for them to push for these measures.

Mamba said it would be ideal if all media organizations were balanced and give everyone the chance to air their side before publishing or airing reports.

Sadly, this is not the case, Mamba said, and thus lawmakers would want a right to reply and make it an obligation for the media to always get the other side.

Mamba said this was being seen as an infringement on freedom of the press but a compromise would somehow have to be reached.

He said all inputs must be considered and that it was useless to accept any amendments if the FOI bill would not be passed after all.