Youth leaders draft expanded version of FOI bill

MANILA, Philippines – Youth leaders from different regions across the Philippines drafted an expanded version of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill that proposed public access to the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) of government officials. They hope to submit the bill to Congress this year.

The Freedom of Information bill was made by the Center for Youth Advocacy and Networking (CYAN) as a culmination of its Youth-led Network for the Right to Information (YNFORM) project, which aimed to train and engage youth to counter disinformation and promote freedom of expression.

A draft of the bill, which was a product of three years of work by the youth network, was presented to the public during YNFORM’s event at Park Inn by Radisson North EDSA on January 14.

The proposed law builds on existing bills in Congress. It has been more than 30 years since the first FOI bill was filed in the House of Representatives but to date, there is still no FOI law.

The expanded bill added new provisions, such as a strict inventory of mandatory documents, and the integration of FOI in the elementary, secondary, and tertiary education. The bill also called for the creation of an FOI Commission and an FOI council, which will serve as independent implementing agencies. These provisions not only strengthen the scope of FOI in the Philippines but also improve citizen awareness and participation.

Mandating public access to the SALN of government officials is among the controversial provisions of the bill, as it counters the Ombudsman Memorandum Circular that restricts access to SALNs. This means that consent of officials will no longer be required under the bill.

How the bill came to be

The push for an expanded version of the FOI bill came up after CYAN conducted a study on how Filipinos accessed information during the first two quarters of 2024. The study evaluated the general state, effectiveness, and challenges of FOI initiatives in the Philippines through desk research and several key informant interviews with the Right to Know Right Now Coalition and Freedom of Information Youth Initiative, among others.

Their research showed that there were three main barriers to FOI in the Philippines: poor public awareness, prevailing digital divide, and a lack of comprehensive legislation. These are barriers that contributed to the low citizen participation and created a gap in the accessibility of public information. CYAN was inspired to work on proposing expanding FOI access to reflect the needs of the community.

“The research proposed the idea of visiting other FOI versions as policy reforms are needed to address the gaps identified in the research,” said Nestie Villaviray, project leader for organizing of YNFORM and board member of CYAN, in Filipino.

When asked about why they wanted the youth to lead in this kind of initiative, Villaviray said that accessibility of quality data serves as the backbone of other youth advocacies.

“Your access to a public document says so much – what kind of governance is being done – especially when we talk about public funds. We only entrusted these public positions [to politicians], so they have no right to restrict your right to information,” said Zarah Navarro,  deputy executive director for programs of CYAN, in a mix of Filipino and English.

CYAN held consultations with non-governmental organizations, youth organizations, and Sangguniang Kabataan leaders from their regional project areas in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. During these consultations, participants discussed past FOI bills, and shared provisions that they wanted to expand and retain, such as the list of mandatory and exempted documents for public access. These answers were then consolidated by CYAN.

The youth leaders were not alone in crafting this bill. After consultations with youth leaders, CYAN led a national policy dialogue with officials and government agencies including the National Anti-Poverty Commission, Commission on Human Rights, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government. 

This was where local government units shared best practices and their experiences with their local FOI ordinances. Among them was the municipality of Nagcarlan, Laguna which shared its process of categorizing and handling of information systems.

It was also where youth leaders helped address concerns from public officials about how bad actors may misuse and abuse access to public documents. CYAN said during the forum that the bill would protect the rights of the public to access information. Should the information be used to forward black propaganda, these should be addressed by a different law aimed to stem the spread of false information or punish bad actors.

What are they doing with the bill right now? 

CYAN hopes to submit the bill to Congress with the help of Senator Risa Hontiveros and Akbayan. The two have expressed willingness to review and sponsor the bill.

“What’s great about this is we’ve been assured that the principles and the spirit of YNFORM’s version won’t be gone. They’ll also see how this can be further strengthened.” said Villaviray in Filipino.

Although CYAN’s project YNFORM has just ended its three-year run with the European Union, the youth organization remains committed to further expand the reach of the project.

“Next steps for us are first to continue the campaign for FOI. Second, you build information champions at the local and national level. Lastly, we continue our policy lobbying for transparent governance”, said Navarro. – Kyla Simbahon/Rappler.com

Kyla Simbahon is a Rappler volunteer from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños. She is a third year BS Economics student majoring in Environmental Economics. Currently, she is the incumbent secretary of the UPLB Economics Society and the associate director for legal affairs of the UPLB Career Assistance Program.