Law on ATI (PH0029)

The main objective is to pass an access to information law. Passage of the current Freedom of Information bill will mandate the disclosure of government information to the general public. The Freedom of Information (FOI) bill is crucial to institutionalize transparency since it will mandate the disclosure of public documents, as well as the procedures for accessing these documents. Passage of the FOI bill will ensure that government efforts on transparency become the norm and can make government more open as disclosure of public data will be institutionalized.

For Commitment details, see https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/philippines-mid-term-progress-report-2015-2017.

1. Law on Access to Information

Commitment Text:

The main objective is to pass an access to information law. Passage of the current Freedom of Information bill will mandate the disclosure of government information to the general public. The Freedom of Information (FOI) bill is crucial to institutionalize transparency since it will mandate the disclosure of public documents, as well as the procedures for accessing these documents. Passage of the FOI bill will ensure that government efforts on transparency become the norm and can make government more open as disclosure of public data will be institutionalized.

Milestones:

Organize, through Philippine OGP, Roundtable Discussions/Workshops on the substantive provisions of the FOI bill with pilot agencies as part of mainstreaming of FOI and confidence building relating thereto preparatory to the implementation of the FOI Act by 2015.

Responsible institution: Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (access to information)

Supporting institutions: Congress, Presidential Legislative Liaison Office; Right to Know Right Now Coalition

Start date: 1 January 2015

End date: 2016

Commitment Aim

This commitment aimed to contribute to the passage of the Freedom of Information (FOI) law and address the continuing challenge of access to, and use of, high-quality and relevant information. This was to be done by convening roundtable discussions and workshops, which would have served as consensus-building processes to move the access to information agenda forward.

Status

Midterm: Limited

By May 2016, the Philippines made limited progress toward this commitment. The Executive, mainly through the Department of Budget and Management and the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (the responsible agency), was unsuccessful in its push for the FOI law, which was not passed by Congress.

On 20 August 2015, the Right to Know Right Now (RKRN) coalition announced its withdrawal from the Steering Committee, “putting the blame squarely on President Aquino (and the leadership of the House of Representatives)…for not mustering the political will to honor his campaign pact with the people to assure the passage of FOI.”[Note: Right to Know Right Now. “The FOI Bill is Dead.” Statement released on 20 August 2015. ] While FOI bill was discussed in Steering Committee meetings, and in other civil society meetings, this did not impact the legislative process.

End of term: Limited

On 23 June 2016, the government passed an FOI executive order that operationalized the people’s constitutional right to information.[Note: Executive Order on Freedom of Information http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2016/07/23/executive-order-no-02-s-2016/. ] By June 2017, the government had made progress toward passing FOI by securing sponsorship and committee-level approval. The government also begun to promote FOI, including releasing an FOI manual, launching an online portal for lodging requests, and publishing a report by the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).[Note: PH-OGP End-of-Term Self-Assessment Report. October 9, 2017. https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Philippines_End-of_Term_Self-Assessment_2015-2017.pdf. ]^{,[Note: Mid-year Report on the implementation of Executive Order (EO) No. 02, s. 2016 or the Freedom of Information (FOI) Program in the Executive Branch. https://www.foi.gov.ph/resources. ]} According to the self-assessment report, the government considers this commitment to be substantially completed. However, the FOI bill was not included in the list of common priority bills released by the president and Congress in August 2017.[Note: Palace, Congress agree on target bills. 31 August 2017. BusinessWorld. http://bworldonline.com/palace-congress-agree-target-bills/. ] The IRM researcher has marked this commitment as limited because the bill’s passage remains pending, its status in Congress is uncertain, and the president’s support is vague.

Did It Open Government?

Access to Information: Marginal

The government has taken steps to address its lack of transparency and to provide citizens with addition opportunities for accessing information. This includes passing the Executive Order, publishing the FOI manual, and launching the online portal for FOI. However, it remains to be seen whether these will make a difference in citizens’ access to and use of information. Officials in the Executive’s FOI program pointed out that securing the participation of other agencies had been a problem: 'There are some agencies that feel that the information they disclose have some kind of intellectual property ownership,' said Kris Ablan, Assistant Secretary of the Executive's FOI program.[Note: Some gov't agencies still 'reluctant' to grant public access to information: Palace official. June 30, 2017. Abs-Cbn News. http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/30/17/some-govt-agencies-still-reluctant-to-grant-public-access-to-information-palace-official. ] The Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) has reported mixed results when filing requests through the online portal: out of 503 requests filed between late November and mid-March 2017, 183 requests were denied, 166 granted, and 154 were pending as of 17 March 2017. XX[Note: The Philippine Center of Investigative Journalism FOI requests
http://pcij.org/stories/183-denied-166-granted-154-pending/. ]XX According to PCIJ, requests were responded to according to whether the requested information was filed with the correct agency and if the agency providing the information was enrolled in the FOI program.[Note: Ibid] So far, only 64 of 200 agencies have enrolled in the program.[Note: Ibid] However, a PCOO report from 15 June 2017 claimed, “108 agencies are on-boarded in the FOI portal, 16 departments, 74 NGAs and 18 GOCCs.”[Note: Mid-year Review of the Implimentation of FOI https://www.foi.gov.ph/downloads/FOI_REPORT_six_months.pdf]

Other recent reports put the state of access to information in negative light. For example, the National Police refused to provide the Commission on Human Rights access to reports detailing alleged cases of extrajudicial killing without the approval of the president.[Note: Duterte unlikely to give CHR access to case folders. 9 September 2017. Inquirer.net. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/929081/philippine-news-updates-commission-on-human-rights-president-duterte-drug-killings. ] Another example has been the redaction by the government in the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net-worth (SALN) of some of the members of the Cabinet.[Note: Redactions in Duterte Cabinet's latest SALNs 'deal-breaker' for FOI – PCIJ. 22 September 2017. Rappler. https://www.rappler.com/nation/183046-redactions-cabinet-members-saln-deal-breaker-foi-pcij. ] As stated above, the fact that the FOI law is not among the president’s priority bills is another indication that the bill may not be passed.

Carried Forward?

This commitment has been carried over to the next action plan. The aim of the new commitment is to pass FOI legislation, though the deliverables include continued implementation of the FOI Executive Order and the use of online portal. The IRM researcher recommends that the other deliverables and actions be linked to the legislation through a concerted that draws attention to the limits of practice due to absence of an FOI law. Stakeholders from all levels need to put pressure on the president and on Congress to prioritize FOI. This includes the media, civil society, government agencies, and ordinary citizens. Ultimately, this commitment can only be judged as completed if the FOI law is passed.