By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora/PNA
MANILA — Government agencies are set to establish an appeals committee to review Freedom of Information (FOI) requests denied for release, the FOI Project Management Office announced Friday.
In a memorandum circular issued by the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), the lead agency in implementing the FOI program, government offices across the executive branch are directed to create their respective Central Appeals and Review Committee (CARC).
The body will receive, review, evaluate, and assess appeals for denied FOI requests filed by requesting parties.
In an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA), PCOO Assistant Secretary and FOI Program Director Kristian Ablan said the CARC, to be headed by a focal person appointed by the agency, will serve as “last recourse” should the other party deem unjustified the denial of his/her information request.
Since Executive Order (EO) No. 2, series of 2016, which operationalizes the Constitutional Right to Information in the Executive Branch of the Government through FOI, was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte, the FOI Project Management Office has already processed about 10,000 online and 3,000 paper-based requests.
Of these figures, Ablan said the approval rate is above 35 percent, while the denials are about 30 percent.
He said an FOI request is often denied when the information is not available at the receiving agency or when the request data falls under a category that may put into jeopardy privacy and matters of national security.
Meanwhile, he described the FOI program as “very beneficial” and “successful” as it “leveled the playing field” for ordinary Filipinos in accessing government documents and showed the executive branch’s commitment to transparency.
In the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Philippines and Myanmar on information and media cooperation, Ablan said the latter also showed interest in the implementation of FOI program in the country.
The delegation was led by no less than Union Minister Pe Myint of Myanmar’s Ministry of Information.
