A legacy waiting to be delivered by 17th Congress this early

This early, the leadership of the 17th Congress should already spearhead thorough deliberations on the freedom of information (FOI) bill. Amid the much-talked about “war on drugs” and the controversies hounding it, the members of the Senate and the House  of Representatives might be lulled into taking their own sweet time—once again!—about attending to the much-awaited passage of that piece of legislation.

It may be recalled that the two previous Congresses, the 15th and 16th, miserably failed to enact an FOI law although then President Benigno Aquino III’s Liberal Party controlled both chambers. In fact, the House did not even favorably act on the measure at the committee level. Remember the “exodus” of legislators from different parties to the LP when Aquino won assumed the presidency—similar to the mass defection of legislators, mostly from the LP, to the PDP-Laban in the current Congress?

In the case of the 15th Congress, people were aghast and frustrated when the FOI bill did not hurdle the House despite the fact that the two key players—then Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and the chair of the committee on public information, Rep. Ben Evardone—used to be newspapermen. Note also that Aquino promised, during his 2010 presidential campaign, that he would give priority to the enactment of an FOI law in consonance with the goals of the much-heralded “daang matuwid” (straight path) of his administration.

Interestingly enough, it took two female lawmakers to work hard to have this piece of legislation considered. In the Senate, it was Sen. Grace Poe who steered the passage of the FOI bill, while then Rep. Leni Robredo actively sought the House counterpart bill’s approval in the committee on public information. And to think that these two ladies were neophyte

legislators at that time (“FOI looming large, thanks to Grace and Leni,” Letters, 6/3/14).

It’s true that President Duterte has issued an FOI executive order, but it only applies to the executive branch of the government. As we know, its scope and coverage do not include the other two coequal branches—the legislative and the judiciary. In this regard, it is imperative to consider that the people who were implicated in the notorious pork barrel scam were mostly members of the legislature, even as some members of the bench were branded as “scalawags in robes.”

The multibillion-peso pork scandal could have not happened if an FOI law already existed at that time. As well-meaning and good intentioned people said, an FOI would shed the light of transparency and let fall the axe of accountability on financial matters in public service. An FOI law would also provide the citizens unfettered access to government information, except those pertaining to national security.

Aquino and Belmonte missed a golden

opportunity to bequeath a very important and lasting legacy when they failed to pass an FOI law during their time.

The present administration which had “pirated” a big number of lawmakers into its fold has no excuse or reason to consign the FOI bill to the dustbin of unacted  bills or proposed laws.

The people are watching, hoping and clamoring for the passage of an FOI law. They deserve “the right to know, right now” to borrow the name of a coalition of individuals, institutions and organizations demanding the passage of an FOI law. Huwag sanang mabigong muli ang sambayanang Pilipino!

—EUSEBIO S. SAN DIEGO, founder, Kagur and former president, QCPSTA,   essandiego@ymail.com