FOI-PMO concludes study visit to Mexico

MANILA – The Freedom of Information – Project Management Office (FOI – PMO), under the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), recently concluded its study visit to the National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information, and Personal Data Protection (INAI) and the Institute for Transparency, Access to Public Information, Personal Data Protection, and Accountability of Mexico City (Info CDMX) in Mexico.

The weeklong technical cooperation visit was dedicated to studying the Mexican legislation on transparency, access to public information, and protection of personal data and its implementation.

Along the same vein, the delegation learned and examined the best practices of INAI and Info CDMX, which may be applicable in the Philippine context.

INAI’s president commissioner, Blanca Lilia Ibarra, and commissioner Adrián Alcalá led the welcome ceremony for the delegation.

“We are glad to have your team here in INAI and welcome to Mexico! I hope this week renders both our institutions with a productive learning experience,” Ibarra said in her opening message.

Similarly, Alcalá expressed his gratitude to the delegation for choosing INAI and Mexico for the study visit.

“Beyond our common fondness for fiestas, food, and boxing, we share the same commitment to transparency and facilitating access to information for our countrymen,” said PCOO Undersecretary and FOI Program Director Kristian Ablan, head of the delegation.

Info CDMX’s president commissioner, Julio César Bonilla, and commissioners Arístides Rodrigo Guerrero and María del Carmen Nava also shared the works and achievements of the local institute.

INAI, as an autonomous body, is the national information commission of Mexico that fulfills the role of guarantor and promoter of access to information and protection of personal data.

On the other hand, Info CDMX is the local guarantor agency of Mexico City.

All 32 states in Mexico have a local guarantor agency each that are autonomous in nature to ensure compliance with the 2015 General Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information.

Included in the learning agenda are the organizational structures of INAI and Info CDMX, technology that facilitates access to information (ATI), relationship with obligated subjects, open government and ATI policies, archives and document management, personal data protection, and appeals process.

Since the signing of Executive Order 2, series of 2016, the enabling policy of the FOI Program, the FOI – PMO has been consistently learning and gathering experiences from international information institutes in administering their respective access to information initiatives.

The study visit was also carried out in preparation for the establishment of an FOI commission under the proposed FOI bill. (PR)