Malacañang is marching ahead of Congress for freedom of information.
An Executive Order on Freedom of Information (FOI) has been drafted and may be ready for signing by President Rodrigo Duterte as early as Friday, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar told CNN Philippines on Wednesday.
In a Twitter post also on Wednesday, Andanar said he was “hammering out” details of the FOI EO. A picture showed him in a meeting with several people, including Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Malou Mangahas, head of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, and lawyer Nepo Malaluan of the group Right to Know Right Now — two of the prime advocates of freedom of information.
Andanar earlier said one of Duterte’s recommendations was an order to government agencies to upload documents and information vital to the public on their websites, except information that may compromise the country's security.
Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the President "abhors secrecy and he desires transparency.”
Duterte said as early as May 11 that he will not wait for Congress to pass an FOI bill and will go ahead with his own EO. He said, however, that the FOI will only apply to offices under the executive branch.
An FOI law with a broader coverage will still be needed by the media and ordinary citizens to access data from all three branches of the government, including the legislative and judiciary.
Article III, Section 7 of the Constitution states that it is the public's right to obtain information on matters of public concern.
"Access to official records, and to documents and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions, or decisions, as well as to government research data used as basis for policy development, shall be afforded the citizen, subject to such limitations as may be provided by law," the provision says.
The FOI was one of the key promises of former President Benigno Aquino III.
The proposed FOI Act tackled in the previous Congress sought public disclosure of official documents. It also outlined the exceptions to such disclosures and the procedures for obtaining official documents.
Proponents of the FOI Act said it failed to pass Congress because of a lack of support from Aquino.
source: www.cnnphilippines,com