Our senators are on a roll…
Tuesday saw the Senate approving its version of the Freedom of Information Bill, otherwise known as the People’s Ownership of Government Information (POGI) Bill, with no opposition from any member of the Senate.
This revolutionary bill is supposed to open up to the public information regarding government transactions, including the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth (SALN) of government officials.
Although two amendments were made to the original version of the bill, both coming from Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, the bill’s central aim remains intact, that is of transparency of government transactions.
The first amendment proposed by Santiago involved the provision for government agencies to regularly publish the SALN of government officials, which Senator Gregorio Honasan, as author of the bill, willingly accepted, acknowledging that this requirement would be a monumental task involving 1.3 million government officials throughout the country.
The second amendment requested by Santiago was to remove the phrase “people’s ownership” with reference to the FOI Bill, which Honasan rejected, stressing that the public office is held by officials not as a privilege but as a “public trust”.
The FOI Bill will be drawn up for a third reading next week, before the Senate goes on holiday break, GMA News reported.
