Data requests the government’s Freedom of Information Program (FOI) rose by 40 percent this year amid the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
Based from its June 2020 data, the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), which manages the electronic FOI (eFOI) portal, said it already registered 31,827 FOI requests.
This was 13,791 higher compared to the 18,036 FOI requests from 2016, when President Duterte signed Executive Order 2 implementing the FOI program, up to December 2019.
PCOO Assistant Secretary Kristian Ablan attributed the increase to the additional number of government agencies, which was included in the eFOI Portal.
“We continuously increase agencies onboard. We now have 487 agencies. So that we must account for it,” Ablan told the BusinessMirror in a Viber message.
Prompt action
OF the requests submitted to eFOI, 45 percent were successfully processed by concerned government agencies.
Another 32 percent were declared unsuccessful or denied since the requested information falls under categories of the “exceptions list,” or was requested to the wrong agency.
The other 5 percent were classified as “closed requests.” These are requests which were returned to the requesting party for clarification and the requesting party failed to respond within 60 days.
Only 18 percent of the requests are pending, or under process.
Processing of these requests remain uninterrupted even during the Covid-related community quarantines, which were declared since March.
“Even with the community quarantine, which affected government operations and caused the suspension of FOI requests processing, most agencies continued to act upon FOI requests. A total of 4,496 FOI requests were received from March 13 to June 15, 2020,” Ablan said.
Most requested information
Ablan said the most, or 47 percent, of the requested information are legal documents/resources such as memo circulars, board resolutions, orders and contracts.
Another bulk, or 39 percent, of requests are for government statistics, datasets and research.
Only 6 percent were related to personal information such as Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN), Personal Data Sheets, monthly salary of government officials, travel expenses, etc.
The remaining 13 percent are not counted as FOI request. These include inquiries and complaints.
The top agencies with the most requests are the Philippine Statistics Authority; Department of Health; Department of Education; Department of Social Welfare and Development; Department of Labor and Employment; Department of Transportation; Department of Public Works and Highways.
Expanded coverage
Ablan said they are now pushing to further expand the coverage of the FOI program to include not only the Executive department as part of the administration’s initiative to promote more transparency in the government.
However, he said, the initiative will need the passage of the pending FOI legislation in Congress.
“We would like it to cover the entirety of the government, including the judiciary, Congress our constitutional commissions, as well as our local government units [LGU]. That is why we are calling on Congress to finally pass the Freedom of Information law within the term of the President,” Ablan said.
But even without the said law, he pointed out that 28 LGUs have already implemented their own FOI ordinances.
These are the areas of Benguet; Ilocos Norte; Surigao del Norte; Province of Bohol; Masbate; Northern Samar; La Union; Batanes; Occidental Mindoro; South Cotabato; Pasig City; Laoag City; Legazpi City; Tuguegarao City; Antipolo City; Himamaylan City; Quezon City; San Pablo City; Valenzuela City; and Borongan City.
For the municipalities, these include Pakil, Laguna; San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte; Infanta, Quezon; Torrijos, Marinduque; Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro; Consolacion, Cebu; and, and Santo Domingo, Ilocos Sur.