House panel OKs budget provision of FOI bill

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations on Wednesday approved the budgetary provisions of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill.

The substitute FOI bill will be returned to the House Committee on Public Information panel before being turned over to the plenary for second reading.

"We are happy with the decision of the Appropriations Committee to approve the appropriations provision of the bill, consequently, approving the FOI budget," Akbayan Party-list Rep. Bary Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez added that the bill's budgetary component was one of the most crucial factor to determine its implementation.

Section 30 of the FOI Act of 2013 states that  "the amount necessary to carry out the provisions of [the] Act [and] shall be charged against the agencies' current budget and shall thereafter be included in the annual General Appropriations Act."

Section 9(b) of the proposed measure requires government agencies to publish and regularly update their FOI Manual on their websites.

Under the FOI bill, the FOI Manual of government agencies should include information regarding the contact information of key offices and personnel, type of information it holds and procedures on how to access them.

All government agencies will be required to set up a website within two years upon approval of the FOI bill.

"All agencies' websites are further required to maintain a 'cyber office' wherein all the necessary information about the agency, the types and forms of services it offers and the standard procedures of access are provided and readily-available to the public online," Gutierrez said.

The lawmaker added that technology would aid the people's right to information.

"In this sense, not only are we cutting the operating costs of the agencies, we would also be creating an e-government that is definitely closer and more accessible to the public," the Akbayan representative added.

Gutierrez is hoping that even ordinary citizens will be able to easily access national and local government services by the end of the second year of the FOI bill's implementation.

The House Committee on Public Information has approved the consolidated version of the FOI bill last November 2014.

RELATED: House panel approves consolidated FOI bill

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