The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
By Luis Leoncio
Among the monumental missed opportunities of the Aquino administration was the proposed Freedom of Information (FOI) Act that, according to an influential business group, would have elevated transparency in the government to an irreversible level and, thus, drew in bigger investments to the country.
The Makati Business Club (MBC), a known pro-administration group, said the FOI bill would have institutionalized reforms, enhanced the country’s competitiveness and empowered the people.
The bill languished in the administration-controlled House of Representatives, despite President Aquino’s election-campaign promise to give it priority. The President had resisted all requests from various groups to push the bill in Congress.
MBC Chairman Ramon del Rosario Jr. had told a Senate hearing on the FOI bill that, while there have been significant gains on account of the administration’s “good-governance reforms,” corruption remained a deterrent to even more aggressive investments and, as a corollary, to the creation of more jobs.
The passage of the FOI bill would help bring about a level and transparent playing field for enterprises that, in turn, would encourage faster expansion of industries and contribute to inclusive growth, del Rosario said.
“As the FOI bill institutionalizes transparency and accountability, we need its enactment to sustain our country’s present momentum,” he also said, according to a report of the MBC, apparently ruing the missed opportunity.
The MBC report also said that during a technical working group meeting on the FOI bill at the House of Representatives, the MBC expressed its concern that the lack of clear-cut government policies and guidelines has caused investors unnecessary losses due to difficulty in complying with rules and even in claiming promised incentives.
The chances of the FOI passing the House in the last year of the Aquino presidency are now nil, as most legislators are already preoccupied with the coming elections, and other “more urgent” Palace measures, such as the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and the 2016 budget law, are sure to be given priority over the FOI.
The first FOI bill was filed by then-Rep. Raul Roco in October 24, 1987, just several months after the ratification of the Constitution.
But until about the 13th Congress, or from 2004 to 2007, the measure was conveniently called the Access to Information Act, which focused on ensuring the people’s right of access to information.
The MBC report noted said that, under the 15th Congress under the Aquino administration, the House Committee on Public Information only managed to report out a consolidated version where it remained pending on second reading.
“The Senate, on the other hand, as in many previous Congresses, had approved on third reading its version of the FOI bill,” the MBC report noted.
The MBC report said the Philippines is among the few countries in the world without an FOI law; ironically, it is also the only one among the original eight founding members of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) without a national legislation on freedom of information.
In the Asia-Pacific, 15 out of the 21 member economies of the Asia Pacific Economic Council (Apec) have FOI laws. “However, among Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member-states, only Indonesia and Thailand have national laws governing access to information. Malaysia has FOI laws at the state level, particularly in Selangorand Penang, which were both passed in 2011,” the MBC report noted.
The MBC said the closest chance the country had of having an FOI law was in the 14th Congress, from 2007 to 2010, when the measure was almost passed if not for a question of quorum that prevented the House to ratify the bicameral report during the last session day of Congress on June 4, 2010.
The MBC report said that, while the country’s gain in transparency deserves much praise—and it must be noted that these milestones were achieved even without an FOI law—“the greater challenge is ensuring that these reforms will be maintained even with changes in administrations.”
Enacting an FOI law “sends a strong message that the Philippines is committed to good governance for the long-term,” the MBC said.