Senators Grace Poe, Panfilo Lacson and Franklin Drilon fired the opening salvo in the 18th Congress by filing their pet bills early.
Poe filed the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill on Tuesday, July 2, one of the ten measures she filed before the Senate’s Bills and Index Service.
“Transparency is essential to accountability. Without transparency, citizens cannot access the information needed to collectively discern the fitness of public officials, elected otherwise, to hold public office,” Poe said in the explanatory note of the proposed Act Implementing the People’s Right to Information and the Constitutional Policies of Full Public Disclosure and Honesty in Public Service or the People’s Freedom of Information Act of 2019.
As chairperson of the public information committee, Poe spearheaded the approval of the bill on third and final reading in 2014.
In 2016, she filed her version of the bill and sponsored it on the floor.
Poe said an FOI law will strengthen the existing Executive Order No. 2 that operationalizes FOI but only in the Executive branch.
The proposed measure, an enhanced version of her previous FOI bill, has considered and incorporated inputs and ideas of various stakeholders from the previous two Congresses.
Under the bill, the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth of the following officials shall be disclosed in their official website: President, Vice President, members of the Cabinet, members of Congress, justices of the Supreme Court, members of the Constitutional Commissions and other constitutional offices and officers of the armed forces with general or flag rank. Access to information, however, is not absolute as there are documents that need to be kept confidential such as those that directly relate to national security or defense and if their revelation may cause damage to the national security or internal and external defense of the State.
Lacon, meanwhile, filed a bill that gives the Philippine government more tools to protect the public from this menace.
According to Lacson, his Senate Bill 21 will plug the loopholes in Republic Act 9372 (the Human Security Act of 2007) so Philippine authorities can prevent terrorist attacks or bring the perpetrators to justice.
Lacson added that while an anti-terror law in itself cannot solve the problem of terrorism, “an intensified one can give the government and the law enforcement agencies the much-needed tool in dealing with the emerging threats of terrorism.”
Lacson, who headed the Philippine National Police from 1999 to 2001, also played a key role in crafting the Human Security Act of 2007.
In his bill, Lacson noted that while RA 9372 has been in effect for more than 10 years, gaps in the law prevented authorities from implementing it properly.
So far, he said the only conviction for terrorism under the 2007 law was the conviction of Nur Sapian by the Taguig City Regional Trial Court.
He added the occupation of Marawi City by the Maute Group in 2017 “showcased the gaps in the current law that leads to the conclusion that we still do not have an effective legal framework that can empower the government to address terrorism as a crime.”
Drilon, for his part, vowed to work for the passage of the Anti-Political Dynasty Act even as he urged Congress to fulfill its constitutional duty to end political dynasties.
Drilon’s bill, Senate Bill No. 11, seeks to prohibit spouse or relatives of an incumbent elective official seeking re-election to hold or run for any elective office in the same province in the same election.