MANILA – The implementation of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Program is one of the best solutions to combat corruption in public offices and should also be applied to other branches of government, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Sec. Martin Andanar said on Saturday (Sept. 25).
The PCOO continues to push for the legislation of FOI through pending bills filed in the legislative body. Andanar said this will address corruption and inefficient public service delivery.
“Our campaign against corruption will end right away, because for example this Freedom of Information is not yet a law. It is not being passed by the Congress yet,” he said in an interview.
“Whether the next administration will continue to promote this or not, us under the Duterte administration believe that this is one of the greatest solutions to get rid of corruption,” he added.
On July 23, 2016, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed Executive Order (EO) No. 2, series of 2016 (EO 2) or the Freedom of Information (FOI) Program, which opened the books of the offices under the executive branch.
The PCOO had requested the inclusion of FOI as part of the President’s legislative agenda for the year 2020.
The landmark policy mandates the PCOO as the designated lead government agency to operationalize EO 2. It aims to promote transparency, accountability, and citizen participation by requiring government agencies to disclose information about their transactions that involve public interest.
In terms of the anti-corruption drive of the government, this policy is complemented by the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) and Republic Act (RA) No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business Act.
Andanar highlighted how RA 11032 has strengthened the anti-red tape campaign in government transactions, advancing the Philippines to the 95th spot from 124th place in 2019 out of 190 economies in the World Bank’s Doing Business 2020 report. (PCOO) – jlo
