Cayetano believes FOI bill can still be resurrected

MANILA, Philippines - Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano believes that the proposed freedom of information (FOI) bill can still be resurrected through an act of the President.

The proposed law is almost certainly dead now that the House of Representatives failed to act on it before Congress adjourned for the election break.

However, Cayetano said that the principles of the proposed law could still be instituted through a mere executive order (EO) of President Aquino.

He said that the EO would contain a directive to all government agencies and offices to exercise utmost transparency by providing as much information to the public as possible.

“Although his (Aquino) government is doing good, although they’re leading by example, we need structural and institutional reforms and make an executive order ordering all government agencies to exercise utmost transparency,” he added.

Cayetano said that there would be some obvious exceptions to the disclosure of information such as matters that would affect national security.

He said that there would also be a limitation in the sense that no penal provision would be included in the EO against those who will not comply.

“You cannot put someone in jail for not following it. But it can include administrative penalties. Meaning, the President can fire or file administrative cases against government officials who do not follow the EO,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano, who is running under the Team PNoy ticket of the Aquino administration, said he believes that the President acted in good faith when he came out with his own version of the bill, which was submitted to Congress.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, who is also part of Team PNoy, said that the problem was more the lack of information dissemination about the bill.

“I don’t think the public knows what’s at stake with the FOI bill; that it will open the floodgates to information that matters to them. They don’t know that,” Angara said.

He said that there was little pressure on the lawmakers to pass the measure because the people were not aware of how important it is to their lives.