Many in the country, the baby boomers (born between 1946 -64) and the Silent generation (1928-1945) will remember the FOI as one of the most discussed bills during the late 80’s to early 2000’s.

Filed in 1987 as Bill 498 or Freedom of Information bill, it is an enabling law to uphold the constitutional right to information and was authored by the late Raul Roco who was then representative of Camarines Sur.

Every Congress since then has had senators and congressmen such as Sen. Grace Poe, then Rep. Leni Robredo and dozens of others who authored varying versions of the bill. In recent years, Senators Joel Villanueva, Loren Legarda, Robin Padilla, Bong Revilla, and then Senator Sonny Angara also authored bills on FOI. At the House, Quezon City Rep. Patrick Vargas and Parañaque City Rep. Gus Tambunting authored bills on FOI.

It was one of the favored legislation by non-government organizations, academics and other enlightened business organizations such as the Makati Business Club who believed that the public is entitled to full access to information. For several years, groups such as the one I belonged to, spent time organizing meetings and lobbying in both houses of Congress and other government offices. We marched with farmers, fisherfolk, laborers, and indigenous people groups, fellow academics and visited supporters in both the Senate and the House, Malacañang, held seminars, and used every communication tool we could think of in pushing for its passage. But its detractors, some in government and their partners in big business, felt that full transparency or disclosure of information would hinder graft and corruption practices.

Thus, despite the efforts of well-meaning senators and congressmen, the oppositors managed to dilute or water down some of the bills that were filed.

Despite these hurdles, leaders of advocacy groups such as Nepo Malaluan, Vince Lazatin and heads of human rights organizations acknowledged the right to information as a priority advocacy. In fact, most countries of the world today have passed their own versions of freedom of information. Which is why I had often wondered why despite all the efforts of some of the most credible legislators and almost every Philippine NGO, it still has to be passed as a law.

Budget Secretary Amenah Pagandaman’s call for “louder voices” that would ask the 20th Congress to pass an enabling law that would flesh out the constitutional provision on right to information suddenly jogged my memory of that plenary at the House of Representatives during the tenure of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Together with hundreds of advocates of FOI, we packed the gallery at the Batasan as we were earlier informed that it would certainly pass this time. Our group, which had prepared some kind of victory party later, was optimistic and we came in full force. It was to be a celebration of many years of sacrifice in the campaign for transparency, a goal deemed critical in a functioning democracy. We patiently waited after the roll call thinking that they would quickly go about the exercise. But nothing happened. We patiently waited while people were going in and out of the hall. Finally, the verdict was a “Nay.” It did not pass. I was stunned. At the lobby, I found myself retreating to a corner where my frustration gave way and I broke into tears. I remembered our years of countless efforts, our belief in a cause bigger than ourselves.

Today, many of us, Team FOI, have moved on. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised when Budget Secretary Pangandaman revived the call for an FOI law. This was during the celebration of Open Government Week over a week ago when she reminded us to uphold the people’s right to information and said, “Open government is not just a passing trend. The country has been cited as Asia’s most fiscally transparent country in the latest Open Budget Survey. The Philippines likewise had improved its ranking in the 2025 World Press Freedom Survey. At the same time, Rafael Ongpin, executive director of the Makati Business Club noted that the business community had identified FOI as a priority measure.

We commend the President for re-appointing Secretary Pangandaman who is determined to push for the passage of FOI. Already, the Department of Budget had taken steps to engage various stakeholders in a series of roundtable discussions to prepare a new version of the FOI bill.

However, this objective of promoting the right to information should be a shared responsibility between the government and the various sectors of our society. Especially the business sector, according to Transparency International which convenes the Business Principles Steering Committee, a multi-stakeholder group of business organizations, civil society and trade unions. The primary goal is business integrity where a Business Guidance Council will help analyze and undertake research, measurements and solutions in promoting transparency. This recognition of the need to lessen income inequalities and human rights violations in the workplace will guide the transformation of the latter to become more humane, and sensitive to the growing imbalances in our society today.

The appointment of UP Law Dean Darlene Marie Berberabe as Solicitor-General and Dr. Shirley Agrupis as chair of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has likewise been received with much appreciation by various sectors of society which recognize the contributions they have made in their previous positions We look forward to an enlightened leadership in these critical governance areas. ([email protected])