MANILA, December 3, 2012-Senator Loren Legarda today expressed support to the proposed Freedom of Information (FOI) bill, stressing that honesty, transparency and accountability must always be upheld to gain back the people’s confidence and faith in the bureaucracy.
“While the present administration is undertaking efforts to elevate the citizens’ trust and confidence in the government, we must give the people something that they can hold on to,” said Legarda.
In her co-sponsorship speech for Senate Bill 3208, An Act Fortifying the People’s Right of Ownership over Information Held by the People’s Government, Legarda explained that the various controversies in the past decade have left Filipino citizens doubting the capability of the government to do its mandate of serving the best interest of the people.
“Under this proposed measure, we aim to feed our people with information about us, the leaders they elected in office, and the businesses our offices deal with. All government agencies will be mandated to disclose information on public interest transactions, documents or records,” she pointed out.
The Senator said that the compulsory disclosure shall be done by posting the aforementioned documents on government websites for easy access, aside from providing these documents upon a person’s request. Furthermore, vital information must be translated into major Filipino languages and made easier to comprehend.
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