Order on FOI to take effect Nov. 25 – Palace

MANILA, Philippines – The presidential order granting the public access to information about government transactions and operations in the executive branch would take effect on Nov. 25, Malacañang said yesterday.

Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said government agencies are preparing to implement the freedom of information or FOI order, which President Duterte signed last July 23.

“This is a new task for our fellow government workers,” Andanar said. “As we continue to learn the ropes, we will be able to craft mechanisms that may further improve efficiency, because this resolve to promote transparency is a big leap for the country’s progress.

“We have conducted workshops for the agencies of the executive branch, aiming to ensure that all agencies will be able to institute their own internal procedures on handling FOI requests.”

Andanar’s statement did not provide details about the FOI exemptions, which transparency advocates fear would dilute the spirit of the order.

The order’s draft implementing rules contained 166 exemptions, including restrictions on the release of information about the use of congressional funds and court proceedings, matters that do not fall within the activities of the executive branch.  An FOI law is needed to cover the transactions and operations of the legislature and the judiciary.

It remains unclear whether all the exemptions were incorporated in the final implementing rules of the FOI order.

Exception No. 158 states that government officials “cannot be compelled to prepare lists and detailed reports on how congressional funds were disbursed.”

Exception No. 25, meanwhile, described as “confidential” court records, including pleadings and other documents filed by litigants.

Exception No. 152 covers non-disclosure of officials’ statements of assets, liabilities and net worth “for any purpose contrary to morals or public policy” or “any commercial purpose other than by news and communications media for dissemination to the general public.”

Citizens can start requesting information 120 days after it meets publication requirements.

Andanar said anyone can request for information as long as this does not jeopardize privacy and national security.

The processes involved in making requests will be published through a manual to be prepared by the Presidential Communications Office.

Requesting parties are required to present proof of identification.

The FOI order covers official records, public records and documents and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions or decisions, as well as government research data used as basis for policy formulation.

An FOI request can be made before all government offices under the executive branch, including government-owned or controlled corporations and state universities and colleges.

While no payments will be collected for making requests, agencies may charge fees to cover printing, reproduction or photocopying costs.

Protection of journalists

A bill seeking to include broadcasters and online media practitioners among journalists protected under Republic Act 53 from revealing their sources was approved in principle yesterday at the Senate committee on public information and mass media.

Sens. Vicente Sotto III and Antonio Trillanes IV separately filed Senate Bill Nos. 6 and 486.

Committee chairman Grace Poe said the existing law is silent about journalists from broadcast stations and online media since e-journalism was just a pipe dream when RA 53 and its amendatory law, RA 1477 of 1956, were enacted. 

“It is high time that lawmakers update the 70-year-old law amid developments in the practice of the profession and in the spirit of the constitutional provision of upholding the freedom of the press,” she said.

Alfonso Pedroche, Philippine Press Institute president and editor-in-chief of Pilipino Star Ngayon, posed no objections to the bills.

It would be advantageous to the practice of journalism in general in view of the advances in technology and in protecting news sources, he said.

Government representatives led by state counsel Charles Cambaliza and Assistant Secretary John Henry Naga of the Department of Information and Communications Technology also backed the bills.

Poe hoped that the amendatory bill will be passed during the Senate’s centenary.

Sotto thanked Poe for prioritizing his bill in memory of his grandfather, Sen. Vicente Sotto, who pushed for journalists’ privilege statute and considered the legislation “very important” during the time.

Poe said proposing revisions to the old law goes hand-in-hand with the proposed Freedom of Information Law already in the advance stage in the Senate, as the media play a critical role in dissemination of information.

Poe is one of the principal authors of the FOI Bill.