Zubiri: FOI bill, Senate's priority in 15th Congress

After being thwarted by a simple lack of quorum in the House of Representatives, the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill will be a Senate priority in the 15th Congress, a senator vowed Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri made this promise as he said senators are willing to re-tackle the measure from square one, at the committee level. "Back to zero, back to Square One, dadaan sa committee level yan at debate sa plenaryo. Pero gusto kong i-assure ang ating mga kababayan na ipa-file namin ito. Aaksyun kami dito uli sa FOI. Magsasama-sama kaming mga senador at gagawin naming priority measure for the 15th Congress (The measure is back to zero, back to Square One. It will have to go through the committee level and debates at the plenary. But I want to assure our people that we will re-file this and act on it. We will make it a priority measure for the 15th Congress)," he said in an interview on dzRH radio. Zubiri, one of the authors of the bill in the 14th Congress, admitted feeling bad that the House of Representatives failed to ratify it last Friday. [See: House suspends session without tackling FOI bill] "Nanghihinayang kami na di inaksyunan ng aming mga kasamahan (We felt bad our fellow lawmakers failed to act on it appropriately)," he said. On the other hand, Malacañang had indicated last week it is not inclined to call a special session to tackle the FOI bill. Zubiri said the special session before June 12 would have been a last chance for the House under the 14th Congress to ratify the measure. "Yung papasok sa 15th Congress dapat may 30-day break, hindi kasama [ang] Saturday and Sunday. So sa July 26, binilang ko 30 days, hanggang June 11 pwede magpatawag ng special session. So kung talagang gusto ng Malacañang, suportahan ang FOI bill pwede sila magpatawag ng special session for that particular purpose," he said. (Before the 15th Congress comes in, there should be a 30-day break not counting Saturdays and Sundays. So from the date of opening of the 15th Congress on July 26, I calculated that Malacañang has time to call a special session on June 11. If Malacañang really wants to pass the FOI bill, it can call a special session by that date.) Under Section 15 Art. VI of the 1987 Constitution, Congress “shall continue to be in session for such number of days as it may determine until thirty days before the opening of its next regular session, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays," and that the “President may call a special session at any time." Several groups, including those from media and the Church, scored the House leadership as well as Malacañang for the incident last Friday that buried the FOI bill. Zubiri said the Senate already ratified its version of the measure as early as February this year. He said that while the Senate will not object to the House taking up the matter before proclaiming the winners of the presidential and vice presidential race, the House leadership is not keen on such an idea. “Kinausap nila si Speaker (Prospero) Nograles, di nila tatalakayin yan dahil tapos na ang legislative calendar. Ang pagtawag ng joint session para sa pagproklama ng president at vice president (Nograles and the House leadership are not keen on tackling that because it is not in the legislative calendar. This particular joint session was called for proclaiming the winners in the presidential and vice presidential race)," he said. For his part, presidential front-runner Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy" Aquino III said over the weekend that the FOI bill — a landmark piece of legislation that will lift the shroud of secrecy over government transactions and data — will be a priority of his administration. [See: Noynoy vows to make FOI bill his administration's priority] — LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV