THE Aquino administration  has finally submitted to Congress its version of the Freedom of Information (FoI) bill.

President Benigno Aquino III announced the submission to the House of Representatives of its FoI bill in his speech at the 112th anniversary of the Manila Bulletin Thursday night. He said the FoI bill was sent to administration allies in the Lower House that day.

“We want every other administration voted into power to work under the same standard of transparency and accountability that we have set for ourselves. This is a significant step toward achieving that goal,” Aquino said.

Deputy presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said the FoI bill may not be included in the priority bills of the administration but its passage will be pursued vigorously.

“The FoI version we submitted yesterday was crafted way after decision on the 13 priority measures was made. President Aquino has finally authorized a version and we will pursue vigorously,” Valte said in a text message to Palace reporters.

A consolidated version of the FoI bill has been pending before the House committee since February last year. Various versions of the proposed legislation, separately authored by 11 senators, are also pending committee approval at the Senate.

The FoI bill seeks to implement Article III, Section 7 and Article II, Section 28 of the 1987 Constitution and guarantees the rights of people to access information and documents of public interest, “subject to reasonable conditions prescribed by law.”

SALN disclosure

The Malacañang version of the FoI measure requires government officials, including members of the Supreme Court, to disclose their Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) and post them  on their official website.

The final administration draft requires the online publication of SALNs of the President, the Vice President, members of the Cabinet, members of Congress, members of the Supreme Court, officers of the Armed Forces with the rank of general or flag officer, and members of Constitutional commissions and other constitutional offices.

Malacañang press undersecretary Manuel Quezon III said some data in the SALN such as addresses and name of children  "may be redacted" during the crafting of the implementing rules and regulations especially if it will endanger  officials, especially those in the military.

"Maybe we can redact or black out certain information such as the addresses of military generals in their SALNs that will be posted in their official website," Quezon told Palace reporters in his briefing.

The draft  listed down 10 exceptions  under the Palace bill.

These include information authorized to be kept secret, such as those directly relating to national security or defense; pertaining to the foreign affairs of the government that may weaken the negotiating position of the country or jeopardize the diplomatic relations of the country; records of minutes and advice given and opinions expressed during decision-making or policy formulation invoked by the President to be privileged and are considered part of the President’s deliberative process.

Once policy has been formulated and decisions made, minutes and research data may be disclosed unless they were made in executive session.

The other exceptions under this category are information pertaining to internal and/or external defense, law enforcement, and border control if the disclosure unduly compromises or interferes with legitimate military or law enforcement operation; interferes with prevention or suppression of criminal activity; deprives a person of a right to fair trial; leads to disclosure of a confidential source; leads to the disclosure of the identity of a confidential source; discloses techniques and procedures for law enforcement, and endangers the life or physical safety of any individual.

The other exceptions are draft orders, resolutions, decisions, memoranda, or audit reports, information obtained by any committee of either House of Representatives in executive session, personal information that could violate personal privacy, unless part of public record or relates to public function of a government official, information pertaining to trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained in confidence or covered by privileged communication, information classified as privileged communication in legal proceedings by law and information that has already been made accessible

"The exceptions cannot be used to cover up a crime, wrong doing, graft or corruption," Quezon said.

Under the Palace bill, violations of the FoI law would be tantamount to gross neglect of duty and shall carry administrative and disciplinary sanctions.

Any public official or employee who falsely denies or conceals the existence of information mandated for disclosure will be criminally liable for violation of Article 226 of the Revised Penal Code.

But a mere denial in good faith will not constitute grounds for administrative sanction or criminal liability.