by Annabel Consuelo Petinglay/PNA
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique — The Antique provincial board approved on second reading the Ordinance Operationalizing Freedom of Information (FOI) in the provincial government.
Antique Provincial Board Member Egidio P. Elio, author of the local legislation, said the FOI Ordinance is in adherence to the Executive Order (EO) Number 2 of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed on July 23, 2016.
“The FOI is a priority program of President Duterte,” Elio said.
He said EO No. 2 encouraged local government units to observe the FOI. “If we have the FOI Ordinance approved, the requesting public could be assisted in terms of their needed information,” Elio said.
“The Provincial Information Officer (PIO) is also being designated to be the FOI Focal Person tasked to oversee the implementation of the FOI Ordinance,” he said.
Acting PIO Galileo Magbanua, who was invited to attend the deliberation, said he accepts the task as the FOI Focal Person for the provincial government.
“We are willing to facilitate the information being requested. We have the information officers already identified in the different departments in the provincial government who could also assist us,” Magbanua said.
The provincial board will again deliberate the third and final reading of the FOI Ordinance on their next regular session Thursday next week.
