A manifesto signed by 117 lawmakers was released Monday in line with an urgent and desperate push for the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill.
Advocates of the bill under the Right to Know, Right Now! coalition also criticized Eastern Samar Representative Ben Evardone, chairman of the public information committee and a former journalist, for sitting on the bill for over a year now.
“Congressman Evardone is really out to dribble the measure to its death in the 15th Congress,” lawyer Nepomuceno Malaluan, co-convenor of the coalition said in a news conference.
“The matter is a concern for the House leadership to decide whether they will allow this measure to die a second death this 15th Congress,” he added.
The bill, which seeks to provide the people with access to information such as government documents upon formal request, nearly passed into law in the 14th Congress. But a quorum question blocked its ratification in the House.
Evardone took exception to the criticisms, saying it was “baseless and misplaced.” Earlier, he said he requested Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. to call a caucus of party leaders in the House to discuss the inclusion of a right of reply provision to the FOI bill.
“I think this will expedite the process and will prevent heated, spirited and highly divisive debates in the committee level and in the plenary...The advocates should address their concern to the leaders of the coalition in Congress,” he said.
Evardone said he is not against the FOI bill, and “fully behind its intent and spirit.”
The coalition asked whether the FOI will get the backing of President Benigno Aquino III and the Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.
As a candidate in May 2010, President Aquino had promised to enact an FOI law as a strategic pillar of his ‘daang matuwid’ (straight path) administration. His study group has proposed, which in turn he endorsed, an FOI version that includes amendments to address his concerns,” the group said.
Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III and Akbayan partylist Representative Walden Bello said the bill has remained at the committee level for too long.
“What the Speaker said was very clear, that the FOI as well as the Reproductive Health (RH) bill should now be put to a vote, that’s why I can’t see the reason for the caucus,” Tañada said.
Since July 2011 up to present, only one hearing was called by Evardone on the FOI, Tañada added.
Bello said the manifesto should build the momentum for the support for FOI. He said the manifesto was signed by five of the six deputy speakers of the House and 19 of the 26 members of the committee on public information, who will vote on the bill.
But he said that “the chairman of the committee is not cooperating with this historical momentum to approve this bill.”
The manifesto had the signatures of the 14 principal authors namely, Tañada, Bello, Representatives Juan Edgardo Angara of Aurora, Kaka Bag-ao of Akbayan, Rodolfo Biazon of Muntinlupa City, Teddy Casino and Neri Colmenares of Bayan Muna, Winston Castelo of Quezon City, Cinchona Cruz-Valdez and Sherwin Tugna of CIBAC partylist, Rachel Marguerite del Mar of Cebu, Salvador Escudero III of Sorsogon, Karlo Alexie Nograles of Davao City, and Marcelino Teodoro of Marikina City.
Evardone, however, was not among the signatories. He said he was not aware of the document. Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. was also not among the signatories.
In their manifesto, the 117 lawmakers said “the right to information cannot remain a hollow guarantee in the Constitution.”
“While the right to information has been held by jurisprudence to be enforceable even without an implementing law, in practice, many government agencies and officials take only token action on citizens’ requests for information and documents,” they said.
“It is the obligation of Congress, with concurrence by the President, to enact FOI law that will institutionalize transparency as the mandatory norm rather than a mere discretion for elective and appointive officials, across all branches and levels of government,” the manifesto added.
source: interaksyon.com
