As the Marcos Jr. administration enters its second year, a Department of Budget and Management (DBM) official expressed optimism that Congress will soon pass the controversial Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill and the Budget Modernization Bill.
DBM Assistant Secretary Rolando Toledo made the statement during a forum on Friday dubbed, “The Legitimacy of President Marcos Jr.: Entailing the Need for More Transparent and Accountable Governance”, organized by the Stratbase ADR Institute and Democracy Watch Philippines.
“[We’re] looking forward to having the FOI law passed. With this administration, with the push from the executive, we are looking forward, we’ll have the Freedom of Information law,” Toledo said.
“As far as FOI [in local governments] is concerned, there are already gains. Around 61 local budget issuances as far as Freedom of Information has been signed. It has been a law at the local government units already,” he added.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr earlier called on “all branches of government to genuinely uphold and give effect to the people’s freedom of information in the course of our day-to-day operations, with good faith and openness”.
Toledo also said the Budget Modernization Bill, which is a priority of the Marcos administration, was getting more support in both chambers of Congress.
“Yes, we are hopeful that this PBBM [Progressive Budgeting for Better and Modernization Governance] bill will be passed. Given that we’ve already consulted a lot in Congress and there are congressmen who are sponsoring this bill already. We have already 11 who authored in Congress and 2 in the Senate… As far as the Senate is concerned, we’ve already identified and responded to the proposal of PBBM [Budget Modernization Bill]. We’re hopeful, but it all depends still on Congress,” he explained.
“We saw that we really need [to] publish our reports and our documents, and make them available to the public. That is very important because we want the public to know what the government is doing, what the government is investing in,” Toledo said.
Stratbase president and Democracy Watch Philippines lead convenor Dindo Manhit urged President Marcos to capitalize on his legitimate electoral victory and on his consequent strong political capital in pushing for important legislation such as the Freedom of Information Bill and the Budget Modernization Bill.
“What I took note of is the credibility of elections. When I look at data, there were 39 percent of the people who said there was less cheating [in 2022] and that the speed of counting votes in Comelec was 86 percent. That’s technology and we’re proud of how technology helps improve governance, how technology can make people live in a world that is more transparent and accountable,” Manhit said.
“Elections are over and we are tracking his [Marcos] performance and we have tracked it in the past three quarters, it’s within the range of 76-80 percent. That means that while 58 percent voted for the President, as we moved on, even those who did not vote for him accept his performance, trust his performance as president. And he should harness this to push for measures that will ensure transparency and accountability in government,” he emphasized.
Manhit also welcomed the President’s recent pronouncement to uphold the FOI and the institutionalization of the Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP) through the issuance of Executive Order No. 31, which aims to strengthen transparency in government processes.
He explained that a more transparent and accountable government would attract more investors to the Philippines.
“I was doing assessment of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) across region, and I learned that top concern for FDI is still governance. Investments are important because they create those initiatives that will help our people uplift their lives. We’re proud of the 7 percent growth driven by consumption. But can you imagine if we get consumption side-by-side with investment-led growth. You uplift the lives of people,” Manhit said.
“When the President issued a statement, this is a long dream of everyone, the FOI. Maybe through technology, maybe that’s the solution [to governance]. We are looking forward and we should make this happen collectively,” he added.