Cayetano: “Freedom of Information Bill should still be a priority in Congress”

Press Release
February 23, 2011

PASAY CITY  –  Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano has urged both the Senate and the House of Representatives to work for the early passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill in spite of reluctance of the Aquino administration to certify the urgency of the bill.

Cayetano said the early passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill will not only ensure transparency and accountability in the government but will establish an institutional mechanism by which the citizenry can be empowered by giving it  access to public documents that involve public interests.

"By aggressively working for the passage of the bill, both the Senate and the House of Representatives can also show that we are, indeed, an independent branch of government with its own priority agenda irrespective of the executive's priorities," Cayetano said.

“While we in the Senate are still hoping the Palace will soon have a change of heart and later certify the FOI bill as urgent, nothing should prevent the House of Representatives and the Senate into making it a priority bill,” he added.

The senator, principal author of the FOI bill, earlier expressed disappointment at Malacanang’s decision not to include the FOI in the list of 17 priority bills after repeated assurances during the presidential campaign that the passage of the FOI bill will be one of his priorities once elected.

He recalled that then Senator Benigno Aquino III also voted for the passage of the FOI bill during the 14th Congress.

The minority leader said both chambers of Congress have been burdened for so long with having to conduct series of hearings and investigations in aid of legislation on reported anomalous transactions by government agencies like the NBN-ZTE, Fertilizer fund scam and now the AFP corruption and the Garcia plea bargaining deal, and those hearings were hampered by refusal of government agencies concerned to release pertinent documents unless these were subpoenaed.

The holding of such hearings, he said, can be minimized and prosecution of guilty parties can be expedited with the FOI law in place.