More LGUs promise “open government” by localizing FOI

August 29, 2020 Provincial

At least 32 Local Government Units (LGUs) around the country heeded the national government’s call for a more transparent and open government via crafting their Freedom of Information (FOI) policies. This as an offshoot of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Joint Memorandum No. 2018-01 signed on October 2018 encouraging LGUs to operationalize the people’s constitutional right to information in line with full public disclosure and transparency in the public service, said PCOO Assistant Secretary and FOI Program Director Kristian Ablan.
Though, even Baguio City and Tabuk City in the Cordillera region have not crafted their own FOI ordinances. Only Benguet province, among the 6 provinces in the Cordillera have instituted their own FOI ordinances. FOI Program said there are 11 provinces, 13 cities, and 8 towns who have taken the initiative to enact their own FOI ordinances or executive orders.
Though according to the DILG though, some 162 LGUs (Provinces, Cities, Municipalities) around the country have ordinances. “FOI is an essential transparency mechanism that has to be implemented in every level, and institution of our government”, Asec. Ablan said, as he emphasized the important role of LGUs for a whole of government approach in FOI program implementation. “The LGUs have a greater advantage in broadening the implementation of FOI, as they exercise full legislative power to enact and localize policies,” the lawyer added.
Consistent with the democratic principle enshrined in the 1987 Philippine Constitution, each FOI ordinance entitles their constituents to access to information, official records, public records, documents and papers pertaining to official acts, transactions or decisions of the LGU concerning public interest.
Ablan stressed that through a localized FOI relevant local information can be accessed easily by citizens. “Most of the information needed by the people in the grassroots is not withheld by the National Government Agencies, it is kept and maintained mostly by Local Government Units,” he said.
Ablan urged more LGUs to follow suit in strengthening transparency and accountability in the bureaucracy, and enhancing public participation in governance.
AAD/ABN