FOI bill likely to be excluded from PNoy SONA – Palace exec

President Benigno Aquino III will likely not mention the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill in his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 25, Department of Budget and Management (DBM) chief Florencio Abad said Wednesday. Abad said that while he has yet to see a copy of the President’s speech, the passage of the FOI bill might not be pushed in the SONA since the executive branch is still finalizing its version of the measure. "Since we have not briefed the President about it [executive's version of the bill], I don’t think he’s in the position to announce it in the SONA yet," he said after the launch of his department’s online management system. He added that a technical working group — which counts him, Communications Office Secretary Ricky Carandang and Undersecretary Manuel Quezon III as members — is ready to propose to the President changes in the original version of the FOI bill. Among these changes is a proposal to create a commission which will implement provisions of the bill. "If the citizens want something, then they will go to the commission. If they have problems, they go also to the commission, but once the law is in place, they can go directly to the agencies," he said. “The commission will find ways to make it easy for citizens to access information from government agencies," he added.

National security Abad also said the Cabinet group working on their version of the FOI bill has also come up with a definition of "national security"— one of the supposed contentious issues between the Palace’s and Congress’ versions of the measure. "If you look at all the models of FOI in the world, that [national security] is considered naman. There are certain information that legitimately cannot be provided to the citizens for obvious reasons… It’s really defining what areas are. I believe we have already done that," he said. He added he will schedule a meeting with Aquino after the SONA, so that the President can present their proposed version of the bill in the second Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC). He likewise assured FOI advocates that his group is working for the passage of the bill, since it is in line with the administration’s goal to achieve transparency and accountability in government. FOI advocates, together with representatives from private business groups and the World Bank, on Tuesday urged the President to immediately support the passage of the FOI bill to promote transparency and development in the country. During the last Congress, the House of Representatives failed to ratify the FOI bill due to lack of quorum. The measure has been pending in Congress for a decade. Lawmakers have vowed to start plenary discussions on the measure by September. Two versions of the bill are currently pending committee approval in Congress—Senate Bill 11 and House Bill 53. — RSJ, GMA News