The House Committee on Appropriations unanimously approved yesterday the funding provision of the People’s Freedom of Information Act of 2013 (FOI) despite attempts to delay its passage.
The panel, chaired by Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab gave in to the appeal made by Misamis Occidental Rep. Jorge Almonte, chairman of the House Committee on Public Information to “seriously consider” the budgetary provision of the long overdue FOI bill.
Section 30 or the funding provision of the proposed FOI, which was passed yesterday provides that the appropriations shall be “the amount necessary to carry out the provisions of [the] Act [and] shall be charged against against the agencies’ current budget and shall thereafter be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.”
A reliable source said there were “behind the scenes” attempts to delay the passage of the pro-transparency measure’s appropriations provisions by pushing the consolidation of the FOI bill with the disclosure bill filed by Camarines Sur Rep. Maria Leonor Gerona-Robredo.
The Ungab committee also passed yesterday the funding provision of Robredo’s bill, which requires full disclosure of information on fiscal management from all national government departments, bureaus, offices, agencies and other instrumentalities, including government-owned or controlled corporations and their subsidiaries, and local government units.
Almonte expressed hope that with the passage of its funding provision, the FOI will be tackled in the plenary in June, admitting that they will have no time to jumpstart the plenary debates on the measure before Congress adjourns on March 20.
“We are expecting hot debate on this bill. I am optimistic that this will be passed this 16th Congress. The Palace is interested to have this bill passed because it is one of the legislative priorities of President,” he said in an interview, citing that the FOI bill is threading “long and arduous roads with numerous and persistent bumps.”
The FOI measure will be delivered back to the Committee on Public Information to draft the committee report and endorse it for plenary discussions. The House Committee on Rules, chaired by Majority Leader Neptali “Boyet” Gonzales II will schedule the bill for plenary debates.
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