Bicam OKs Freedom of Info bill

The bill seeking to strengthen the people’s right to access information – especially government records – is now a step closer to becoming a law after senators and congressmen reconciled their versions of the measure Wednesday afternoon. In the event Congress ratifies the Freedom of Information Bill next week, the proposed measure will only need the signature of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for it to become a law. Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, head of the Senate panel in the bicameral conference meeting, said such law is important to curb graft and corruption, which he said is "a very big problem in this country." "The approval of the measure hopefully will make each and every citizen a graft buster," he said. When the bill finally becomes a law, "everything has to be disclosed," said Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante, head of the House contingent in the bicameral conference committee. "I think that the bill is very much needed and very timely that our people should have access to information and everything," Abante said. Among those who attended the bicameral meeting were Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, and Representatives Eduardo Zialcita, Lorenzo Tanada III, Rodolfo Antonino and Cinchona Cruz Gonzales. Salient points The bill states that the government recognizes the right of the people to information on matters of public concern, and adopts and implements a policy of full public disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest, subject to the procedures and limitations provided. "This right is indispensable to the exercise of the right of the people and their organizations to effective and reasonable participation at all levels of social, political and economic decision-making," the bill stated. Under the bill, all government agencies are required to make available to public for scrutiny, copying and reproduction all information pertaining to official acts, transactions or decisions, as well as government research data used as basis for policy development, regardless of their physical form or format in which they are contained and by whom they were made. "There shall be a legal presumption in favor of access to information. Accordingly, government agencies shall have the burden of proof of showing by clear and convincing evidence that the information requested is exempted from disclosure by this Act," it further said. Exempted from the law, however, are documents that might endanger national security, documents on ongoing military or police operations, and others that fall under other exemptions provided under the Constitution. Draft decisions in judicial proceedings or documents that are part of negotiations in diplomacy or international relations are also exempted. - Amita Legaspi/KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV