Right to Know, Right Now! Mindanao pushes for Freedom of Info Act 2010-06-02
DAVAOCITY – As June 30 approaches which is the last day of the 14th Congress, members of the Right to Know, Right Now! Mindanao are using all possible means to campaign for the ratification of Freedom of Information (FOI) bill.
From operation dikit, conduct of fora, email barrage, letter-petition, the group will hold a picket at the office of House Speaker Prospero Nograles in DavaoCity to urge him lead the House in ratifying the FOI Act. Unlike the May 24 picket at the FreedomPark, wherein the day Congress resumed session and the FOI ratification was sidetracked, the planned protest on June 3 is solely directed to Nograles to lead the House in approving the bicameral report.
The said bicameral report is the reconciled House and Senate version of the FOI Act which the latter had ratified before both sessions adjourned for the elections. However, the Lower House faced constraints such as lack of quorum and bickering among members. The bill only needs the House ratification to have the President sign it into law.
When passed into law, the Freedom of Information Act will make fully operational the Constitutional right of the people to information. After almost 23 years since the ratification of the 1987 Constitution, Congress has not yet addressed the lack of legislation that tolerates government agencies’ violation of the people’s right to information.
The Act when approved shall provide a standard and definite procedure in dealing with requests for information from government agencies. It presents implementing mechanics for disclosure to the public, without need of request from anyone, of government transactions of utmost public interest such as procurement and infrastructure contracts, concession agreements, loans and international agreements.
The Act likewise offers numerous mechanisms for the active promotion of openness in government, such as the introduction of standards for records keeping and the obligation to publish important organizational information of agencies.
Advocates of the Freedom of Information Act believe that this law will empower Filipinos to plant the seeds of strategic and irreversible governance reform in the country and that only the forces of unaccountable and insatiable governance will stand in the way of its passage.
Meanwhile, the group will brace the heat of morning sun pushing for the passage of FOI along Quirino Street where Nograles’ office is found.
