{"id":79065,"date":"2016-07-24T06:15:17","date_gmt":"2016-07-24T10:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=79065"},"modified":"2016-07-24T08:23:25","modified_gmt":"2016-07-24T12:23:25","slug":"senators-commend-president-duterte-signing-eo-foi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/07\/24\/senators-commend-president-duterte-signing-eo-foi\/","title":{"rendered":"Senators commend President Duterte for signing EO on FOI"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u201cLet<\/a>
\u201cLet me say in the first place that we thank the President for starting this at least in the executive branch. This is already indeed a milestone,\u201d Senator Grace Poe said in a cable ANC television interview. (Facebook photo<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA \u2013 Senators commended on Sunday President Rodrigo Duterte for signing a landmark Executive Order on Freedom of Information for the executive branch of the government.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me say in the first place that we thank the President for starting this at least in the executive branch. This is already indeed a milestone,\u201d Senator Grace Poe said in a cable ANC television interview.<\/p>\n

Poe, a presidential candidate in the last May 9 election, vowed to push for an actual FOI law that will cover all branches of government, including legislative.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of things that we need to continue with regard to the FOI in other branches of government but we wait with much anticipate that full implementation in the executive branch,\u201d Poe said.<\/p>\n

As chairperson of the Senate committee on mass media and information, Poe co-authored and sponsored the FOI bill that was passed by the Senate in the 16th Congress.<\/p>\n

The FOI bill, however, did not reach Malacanang after the House of Representatives failed to pass its own version, marking the three decades of failed effort of the legislative branch to pass FOI law.<\/p>\n

Senator Paolo Benigno \u2018Bam\u2019 Aquino IV said the FOI in the executive branche would be a welcome development in the fight for transparency and good governance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe wholeheartedly that this Executive Order will aid in the fight against corruption,\u201d Aquino said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA number of us supported the FOI in the previous Congress, but it did not come to fruition. This is a bold step in the right direction, and hopefully, the legislature can follow the President\u2019s lead and institutionalize this into a law as well,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Senator Francis \u2018Koko\u2019 Pangilinan described the EO as landmark but agreed with Poe that there is still a need for FOI legislation \u201cso that we can ensure transparency at all levels of the bureaucracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe commend President Duterte on his commitment to uphold the constitutional right of our people to information through his Executive Order. It is a first step on our vision of a more transparent government,\u201d Pangilinan said.<\/p>\n

Senator Ralph Recto said the FOI order signed by President Duterte should cut red tape in public offices and lead to \u201cshorter periods and simpler processes\u201d in accessing government services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s one important benchmark by which this FOI order should be measured, on how fast government permits can be secured,\u201d Recto said.<\/p>\n

\u201cClear, concise, cheaper way of getting government documents like passports and licenses,\u201d Recto added.<\/p>\n

Recto recalled that the FOI bill passed by the Senate in the past Congress clearly mandated offices \u201cto describe frontline services they deliver and the procedure and length of time by which they may be availed of.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDelays arise from lack of information. This commendable FOI order by President Digong should light the bureaucratic maze,\u201d Recto said.<\/p>\n

Recto said it is not enough that the public is allowed access to public documents \u2013 \u201cit is also important that documents are written in a language they can easily understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Senate version of the FOI bill, Recto said, \u201ccalled for the use of plain language in official documents and communication and their translation into the vernacular.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is one thing to get documents. It is another to make documents self-explanatory and easy-to-comprehend,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

So that official documents can be available online, Recto said the newly-formed Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) \u201cshould spearhead the establishment of an infrastructure that would place public records on ICT platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The DICT has a big role to play in carrying out the provisions of FOI, Recto stressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA \u2013 Senators commended on Sunday President Rodrigo Duterte for signing a landmark Executive Order on Freedom of Information for …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":79066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[6054,11409],"class_list":["post-79065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-duterte","tag-president-duterte","mauthors-jelly-musico","mauthors-philippines-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}