BY ISMAEL AMIGO, 1st-APLUMA NATIONAL PRESIDENT

WHATEVER happened to President Aquino's promise to pursue the passage of the Freedom on Information Bill (FOI) under his watch?

Our group, 1st-APLUMA or Unang Alyansang Pambansa at Lokal na Ugnayang Mamamahayag-Manggagawa, was greatly disappointed after learning that P-Noy left out the FOI bill in his priority measures.

For our group, the FOI bill will play a major role in P-Noy's campaign to have a transparent government and stamp out corruption in the bureaucracy.

But to our dismay, P-Noy did not include the bill, saying that he is still studying the sensitive issues surrounding it.

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For those of you who want to read 1st-APLUMA's call on P-Noy to pass the FOI bill, I will reprint here in full our position:

 

Now that the Senate has revised the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill, the ball is in President Aquino's court to certify it as urgent so the administration's allies in Congess could work for its passage to ensure its "matuwid na daan" slogan.

Our group, 1st-APLUMA, has deemed the FOI bill important for President Aquino's mission to eradicate graft and corruption in government.

1st-APLUMA has been pushing for the passage of the bill since the 14th Congress as this would be of great help in the campaign against corruption.

The bill would give the people the right to information and government transactions affecting public interests.

The bill mandates government agencies to make available for public scrutiny, copying and reproduction all information pertaining to official acts as provided in the Constitution.

The measure also imposes a one- to six-month imprisonment on any public official or employee who prevents the exercise of the constitutional rights.

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1st-APLUMA's stand on the FOI bill goes with Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano's call to President Aquino to certify it as urgent, saying a big part of the fight against corruption would be won if the proposal is passed into law.

Cayetano believes that President Aquino, unlike the previous administration, has nothing to fear about the law.

The lawmaker said he wants a more aggressive stand from Malacañang when it comes to passing the FOI bill, which was not passed in the previous Congress.

In the meantime, while the bill is pending, Cayetano suggests that the President come up with an executive order requiring all government agencies to comply with requests for public documents.

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esns03@yahoo.com