Yet another FoI bill filed

Senate Minority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III has filed a measure seeking to make government transactions more transparent through the “People’s Freedom of Information Act of 2025.”

The bill aims to implement the public’s right to information and enforce constitutional policies on full disclosure and honesty in public service.

Sotto said a Freedom of Information law has been “long overdue.” Many similar FoI measures had been filed in the past without being passed into law.

Sensitive personal data — such as race, ethnicity, origin, health records, education, tax returns, and other personal records — would remain off-limits under the proposed law.

“Transparency is the cornerstone of good governance. To foster accountability, trust, and citizen participation, our Government shall provide ready and complete access to key information to the discerning public,” Sotto said.

The FoI bill also requires the release of annual Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) for top officials, including the President, Vice President, Cabinet members, lawmakers, Supreme Court justices, members of constitutional commissions, and senior military officers holding general or flag ranks.

Government agencies would be mandated to post online — updated monthly — records of transactions, budgets, collections and disbursements, income and expenditures, procurement plans, bidding opportunities and awarded contracts.

Public officials who withhold, tamper with, or alter information could face one to six months in jail and fines from P10,000 to P100,000.

“In this modern world where data is readily available online, information about government transactions, processes, and actions shall likewise be accessible to our countrymen as a matter of right,” Sotto said.

Budget Secretary and Philippine Open Government Partnership chair Amenah Pangandaman said the push for FoI was again raised during a recent roundtable discussion with stakeholders.

“For over three decades since the filing of the very first FoI Bill, the country has yet to pass an enabling law that will uphold the people’s constitutional right to information,” Pangandaman said.

An executive order issued by then-President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016 already provides a mechanism for requesting public records, with exceptions for matters affecting national security.

The Presidential Communications Office operates an eFoI portal that allows citizens to file information requests from home. However, various attempts by DAILY TRIBUNE to tap the FoI mechanism to secure public documents had been unsuccessful.