PASS THE FOI BILL Photographers gather at Rizal Park in Manila to demand the passage of the freedom of information bill and to fight for their right to shoot in public places and national parks, such as Rizal Park and Intramuros. NIO JESUS ORBETA

Twenty-seven years after the late Sen. Raul Roco filed the first freedom of information (FOI) bill, the campaign for an FOI seems on the verge of bearing fruit. A Senate version, The Peoples Freedom of Information Act of 2013, or Senate Bill No. 1733, was passed by that chamber in 2013 and again on March 10, 2014.

In the House of Representatives, the committee on public information finally approved on Dec. 1 the lower chambers own version, The Peoples Freedom of Information Act of 2014. It was drafted by the Technical Working Group, which included the Right to Know Right Now coalition, after earlier versions were twice killed in 2012 and 2013 for reasons ranging from the supposed absence of a venue for the committee to discuss the bill to a lack of quorum in the plenary.

Quoting from the Constitution, both bills state in their respective declarations of policy (Section 2) that the State recognizes the right of the people to information in matters of public concern and adopts and implements a policy of full public disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest. But the bills add the caveat subject to the procedures and limitations provided by this Act, in the process suggesting that the constitutional guarantee of the citizenrys right to information will now, unlike in the past, be subject to legally explicit limitations.

Public right

The Constitution indeed recognizes the right to information. The Supreme Court has also ruled that the right to information is a public right that may be exercised by any citizen. Its exercise by citizens and State implementation is supported and mandated by Republic Act No. 6713 and Executive Order No. 89.

RA 6713 compels government to disclose information on government matters upon request, while EO 89 requires national government agencies to draft and implement procedures for both the public and government agencies to follow when there are requests for government-held information.

Among journalists the consensus some 13 years ago was that government-held information was generally accessible, despite the Philippines being among the few countries in Asia without an FOI Act. The Philippines, in fact, led other countries in Southeast Asia in a 2001 study on such access by the Southeast Asian Press Alliance.

More recently since then, however, and especially during the Arroyo regime, obtaining information on government matters has become more difficult and the absence of an FOI law does seem an anomaly in this rumored democracy.

Institutionalizing access to information through an FOI law couldand it is a possibility rather than a certaintymake the release of government information to citizens less subject to the whims of clueless bureaucrats and corruption-ridden administrations with a passion for secrecy.

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Finally bearing fruit or foiled again?