FOI Bill Personal Thoughts

            Every one of us have our own right. The right to live, the right to quality education, the right to have a safe and secured home, the right to express our own self and many other rights that we already had starting from the moment that we were born. As what is stated in the 1987 Philippine Constitution under Section 1 of the Article III: Bill of Rights, “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without the due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.” Therefore, no person can stop us from doing what we want as long as we are following the rules set by our government. As a law-abiding citizen and a member of the work force of the Philippines, we, the tax payers are already educated enough to ask where are our taxes go.

            With all the anomalies that the Philippine government is facing right now, especially issues regarding money matters, Filipinos are now starting to doubt the governing body if they are really doing their job in putting the taxes of the Filipino laborers into tangible projects or are they just putting it on their own pockets. According to the Section 7 of Article III: Bill of Rights of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, it states that, “The right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized. 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 a basis for policy development, shall be afforded the citizen, subject to such limitations as may be provided by law.” Thus, we were given the right to know how does the government spends the money of our country.

Because of the recurring issues regarding the misuse of monetary funds of the Philippines, this calls the attention of some senators to take specific and immediate actions to stop this problem. Senators Escudero, Trillanes III, Osmeña III, Honasan II, Guingona III, Allan Peter Cayetano, Ejercito, Legarda, Angara and Poe came up with a decision of passing a bill that mandates government officials, government offices and other governing bodies to show necessary documents of their expenditures and other transactions that happens within their respective offices. As what is written in the Article 2: Declaration of Principles and State Policies, Section 28 of the 1987 Constitution; “Subject to reasonable conditions prescribed by the law, the State adopts and implements a policy of full public disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest.” This is the emergence of the House Bill No. 3237 or most commonly known as the People’s Freedom of Information Act of 2014.

The Freedom of Information Bill’s main purpose is to strengthen the right of the people to information held by the government. Being one of the most corrupt country around the world, this is one of the solutions that the governing body came up with to reduce those corrupt officials in taking home the money which is intended for the Filipino people. Hopefully, when this bill becomes a law, all the necessary and pertinent documents that needs to be accessed by the Filipino citizen will be available publicly. The documents that should be available to the public are written in the Section 4 of the Freedom of Information Bill. The following documents are as follows:

“(a) Information refers to data that have been processed into a record, document, paper, report, letter, contract, minutes and transcripts of official meetings, maps, books, photographs, data, research materials, in whatever form, or films, sound and video recordings, magnetic or other tapes, electronic data, in whatever format, which are made, received or kept in or under the control and custody of any government agency pursuant to law, executive order, rules and regulations, ordinance or in connection with the performance or transaction of official business by any government agency.

(b) Official record refers to information produced or received by a public officer or employee, or by a government agency in an official capacity or pursuant to a public function or duty. This shall not refer to the stage or status of the information.

(c) Public record refers to information required by law, executive orders, rules, or regulations to be entered, kept and made publicly available by a government agency.

(d) Dataset shall refer to an organized collection of data, which is presented in a variety of forms such as but not limited to tabular, geospatial, or image data files.

(e) Machine-readable shall refer to formats that are able to have its data extracted and processed by computer programs easily.

(f) Open format shall refer to one that is platform independent, machine readable, and made available to the public without restrictions that would impede the re-use of that information.”

            With all these documents that will be available for the public, the true meaning of good governance, accountability, transparency and credibility will be achieved and the people of the Philippines will trust those people who are leading our country. It is also included in the said bill the other information that each government offices should published on their respective websites under Section 10: Promotion of Openness in Government. These are the following:

“(1) A description of its mandate, structure, powers, functions, duties and decision-making processes;

(2) A description of the frontline services it delivers and the procedure and length of time by which they may be availed of;

(3) The names of its key officials, their powers, functions and responsibilities, and their profiles and curriculum vitae;

(4) Work programs, development plans, investment plans, projects, performance targets and accomplishments, and budgets, revenue allotments and expenditures;

(5) Important rules and regulations, orders or decisions: Provided, That they be published within fifteen (15) calendar days from promulgation;

(6) Datasets generated in the implementation of agency mandates, programs, activities, and projects such as statistics, figures, and geospatial data, among others;

(7) Current and important database and statistics that it generates;

(8) Bidding processes and requirements; and

(9) Mechanisms or procedures by which the public may participate in or otherwise influence the formulation of policy or the exercise of its powers.”

            Being transparent is one of the characteristics that a government official must possess. It is a part of their oath as a public servant that they must be transparent in all the transactions that their offices do and also, in all their assets, liabilities and net worth. As what is stated in the Section 17 of Article XI: Accountability of Public Officers of the 1987 Philippine Constitution; “A public officer or employee shall, upon assumption of office and as often thereafter as may be required by law, submit a declaration under oath of his assets, liabilities, and net worth. In the case of the President, the Vice-President, the Members of the Cabinet, the Congress, the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Commissions and other constitutional offices, and officers of the armed forces with general or flag rank, the declaration shall be disclosed to the public in the manner provided by law.” According to this section, public officials are mandated to show their annual Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth or most commonly known as the SALN for them to be kept on track if there is a sudden “doubtful” changes in their annual SALN that can be a great evidence of corrupting the intended budget of the Philippines for its people. Likewise, government offices are also required to present significant official papers that could prove that their office is using the budget well that is given by the government. In relation to this, this bill also includes the following government officials to provide their annual SALN reports. It is under Section 9: Mandatory Disclosure of Information of the aforementioned bill. The officials and the documents that need to be shown are as follows:

“(a) In fulfillment of Article XI, Section 17 of the Constitution the following national officials shall provide to the public, through the websites of their respective offices, their Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net worth (SALN) on an annual basis, subject to Section 5 and Section 7 (f) of this Act

(1) the President;

(2) the Vice- President;

(3) the Members of the Cabinet;

(4) the Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives;

(5) the Justices of the Supreme Court;

(6) the Commissioners of the Constitutional Commissions and other constitutional offices; and

(7) the officers of the Armed Forces with the rank of general or the equivalent flag rank.

(b) All agencies of all branches of government shall publish on their websites and update on a monthly basis, a register of the following:

(1) Freedom of Information Manual in full;

(2) Rules of Procedure, descriptions of forms available or the places at which forms may be obtained, and instructions as to the scope and contents of all papers, reports, or examinations;

(3) Substantive rules of general applicability adopted as authorized by law, and statements of general policy or interpretations of general applicability formulated and adopted by the agency, including subsequent amendments;

(4) Public interest documents or records, including:

(i) Annual Budget of Government Agencies;

(ii) Itemized Monthly Collections and Disbursement;

(iii) Summary of Income and Expenditures;

(iv) Component of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) Utilization;

(v) Annual Procurement Plan and Procurement List;

(vi) Items for Bidding;

(vii) Bid Results on Civil Works, and Goods and Services;

(viii) Abstract of Bids as Calculated;

(ix) Procurement contracts entered into by a government agency;

(x) Construction or concession agreements or contracts entered into by a government agency with any domestic or foreign person or entity;

(xi) Private sector participation agreements or contracts in infrastructure and development projects under Republic Act No. 6957 otherwise known as the Philippine BOT Law, as amended by Republic Act No. 7718;

(xii) Public funding extended to any private entity;

(xiii) Bilateral or multilateral agreements and treaties in trade, economic partnership, investments, cooperation and similar binding commitments;

(xiv) List of persons or entities who were granted licenses, permits or agreements for the extraction and/or utilization of natural resources given by any government agency;

(xv) Statement of Assets and Liabilities of the public officers of the government agency; and

(xvi) Guarantees given by any government agency to government-owned or -controlled corporations and to private corporations, persons or entities.

The register shall contain a brief description of the transaction involved, including, but not limited to: the nature and object of the transaction, the parties and amounts involved, the key steps undertaken towards its conclusion, and the relevant dates provided that contracts and agreements involving an amount of at least Fifty Million Pesos (P50,000,000.00) shall be published in full on the website of the concerned government agency or the Official Gazette Online subject to the succeeding section. A covered record shall be enrolled in the register not later than 30 working days from its perfection or issuance.”

            This documents should be easily accessed and viewed on the official gazette of the Philippines. Failure to do such thing can cause an administrative and criminal liabilities as what is written on the Sections 14 and 15 of the Freedom of Information Bill. The penalty ranges from one (1) month to six (6) months of imprisonment and can be removed from their respective jobs. With this kinds of sanctions to be given by those who will violate the bill, public officials will fully disclose all the information that the Filipino people needs to know.

            Another good thing this bill, based on the Section 17, there must be a need of Freedom of Information Manual. This manual should contain the organizational charts, contact numbers, other branches, services offered, procedures of getting a specific documents form their offices which will be accomplished by all the government agencies. The FOI Manual should not only be printed but will also be available in the respective websites of the government offices for easier access. This would help the people to be informed in what will be the process and who are they going to ask for help in times of confusion.

            This bill also wants to implement a better way to keep the vital records of every government offices. It is written in the Section 22 of the FOI bill all the documents that needs to be kept for easier access once it is needed. With the use of the record keeping technique, each government agencies can provide the official papers in a very effective and easier way.

            Another point that I want to point out, is the removal of the incentives that will be given to the offices that will be able to abide to the rules of the bill and to satisfy those people with their services. It is written under Section 27 of the bill that is presented in the Senate. After the first reading of the House of representative, they made an amendment and removed the special incentives and rewards. In my own opinion, the removal of the said section is good, for it is the duty and responsibility of the government offices and officials to provide us necessary information that we have to know. This might be another way of other officials to corrupt.

            Now that the bill was on its second reading on the House of representative and President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision of putting it into the priority list of bills that should be passed, we are all hoping that it will be implemented. Implementation of the FOI bill will give a slight relief to the corruption issue of the Philippines. This will also bring back the trust of the people to those who are leading our country. Upon implementation, we will all be informed and by getting informed, we will get involved. Getting involved will give us a better understanding about things and because of understanding, we will not only just have a peaceful country but also a trustworthy, credible and transparent leader.