Republic of the Philippines

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 133

_____________________________________________________________________________
_
Introduced by Reps. TEODORO A. CASIÑO and NERI JAVIER
COLMENARES

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The people’s right to official information is an indispensable element of a

functioning democracy. The ideal of a government by the people
presupposes that the people collectively and individually have access to
information on matters of public concern in order to effectively exercise their
sovereignty.

The free flow of information about the policies and activities of government
asserts the fundamental principle of accountability and transparency in
government. It provides the institutional foundation for a more responsive
government by enhancing the capacity of the people to receive information
and provide feedback on issues, programs and policies that concern their life
and future. The bottomline is: a government which has nothing to hide
should not be afraid of an informed and enlightened citizenry.

Access to official information is a constitutional imperative. The pertinent

provision under the Constitution, Art. III, Sec. 7, recognizes it as a
fundamental political and public right and an essential premise of a
meaningful right to speech and expression: “The right of the people to
information on matters of public concern shall be recognized. Access to
official records, and to documents, and papers pertaining to official acts,
transactions, or decisions, as well as to government research data used as
basis for policy development, shall be afforded the citizen, subject to such
limitations as may be provided by law.”

The people’s right to official information goes hand-in-hand with the

constitutional policies of full public disclosure and honesty in public service.
Art. II, Sec. 28 states: “Subject to reasonable conditions prescribed by law,
the State adopts and implements a policy of full public disclosure of all its
transactions involving public interest.”
The right to information on matters of public concern is a self-executory
provision which can be invoked by any citizen. It determines the rules by
which the duty to afford access to sources of information is enforced. While
the manner of examining public records may be subject to reasonable
regulation by the government agency in custody thereof, the duty to disclose
the information of public concern and to afford access to public records
cannot be discretionary on their part. Otherwise, the enjoyment of the
constitutional right will be negated by any whimsical exercise of agency
discretion.

Unfortunately, despite the constitutional guarantee and the judicial

affirmation of the right to information, denial of access to information on
matters of public concern remains widespread in the government
bureaucracy. Varying measures have been instituted which, instead of
promoting the guaranteed access to covered information, have confused if
not stifled, the exercise of the right.

This situation can be corrected by specific appropriate legislation that would

prescribe common baseline standards which complement the constitutional
guarantee and relevant jurisprudence, and more importantly, provide teeth
to the extant but scant provision of Republic Act 6713 (The Code of Conduct
and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees). RA 6713 states
these general working principles: 1) “Make documents accessible to the
public. – All public documents must be made accessible to, and readily
available for inspection by the public within reasonable working hours”; 2)
“Disclosure and/or misuse of confidential information. – Public officials and
employees shall not use or divulge, confidential or classified information
officially known to them by reason of their office and not made available to
the public either to further their private interests or give undue advantage to
anyone, or to prejudice the public interest.”

A legislative enactment is needed to rationalize the harsh exemptions

provided for in the April 21, 1989 Rules Implementing the Code of Conduct
and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees (RA 6713)
promulgated by the Civil Service Commission and to provide effective means
for redress of violations of the right. Consistent with the constitutional policy
on transparency of transaction and access to information, Congress must be
able to substantiate and government agencies should be able to implement
access to covered information which of necessity assures full public
disclosure of all transactions involving public interest.

This bill addresses the foregoing issues. It seeks the elimination of esoteric
and hardly comprehensible and excessively broad jargon of exemptions to
the exercise of the right to official information. Since the exceptions signal
official high-handedness and brashness, they have often been the cause for
the lackadaisical exercise of access to matters of public concern. In this
regard, the bill proposes to simplify the limitations to “Except when it is clear
that the purpose of the examination is to abet or promote or commit crime
or wrongdoing or to engage in sheer and idle curiosity.” By the restatement
of the exceptions to levels capable of ordinary understanding, this bill
reduces instances of brash rejection of requests for access to official
information and in the process stresses the basic postulate that the people
can be trusted with information which in the first place they ought to know
being the source of all government authority.

This bill puts in place a uniform, simple, speedy and effective means of
enforcing the right to information It organizes the scope of the guarantee by
codifying definitions of its coverage and clarifying situations for its
reasonable exercise; provides a corrective measure against anti-people and
criminal acts; and institutes precise penalties for unlawful denial of access to
official information.

The key features of this bill also include absolute and mandatory access to
matters of official information, public concern and public interest in specified
cases and the refinement of the concept and operation of covered
information in whatever form or nature, whether written, oral or visual,
among others.

Immediate passage of this bill is earnestly sought.

Approved,

REP. TEODORO A. CASIÑO REP. NERI JAVIER

COLMENARES
Bayan Muna Party-list Bayan Muna
Party-list
 Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 133

_____________________________________________________________________________
_
Introduced by Reps. TEODORO A. CASIÑO and NERI JAVIER
COLMENARES

AN ACT TO ENSURE PUBLIC ACCESS TO OFFICIAL RECORDS,

DOCUMENTS
AND ANY OTHER INFORMATION OF PUBLIC CONCERN

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines

in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Title. This Act shall be known as “An Act to Ensure Public
Access to Official Records, Documents and Any Other Information of Public
Concern” or, in short, “Freedom of Information Act.”

SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. It is the policy of the State to afford the

people broad access to information in its custody consistent with their
constitutional right to information on matters of public concern and in
furtherance of transparency and accountability in government. This right is
indispensable to the exercise of the right of the people and their
organizations to effective and reasonable participation at all levels of social,
political and economic decision-making.

SECTION 3. Duty to Disclose and Coverage. The duty to disclose and

make available for public scrutiny sources of official information and matters
of public concern and public interest in any form whatsoever shall be
demandable from the executive, legislative and judicial branches as well as
the constitutional bodies of the Republic of the Philippines including, but not
limited to, the national government and all its agencies, departments,
bureaus, offices and instrumentalities, constitutional commissions and
constitutionally-mandated bodies, local government units and all their
agencies, regulatory agencies, chartered institutions, government-owned or
-controlled corporations, including wholly-owned or controlled subsidiaries,
government financial institutions, state universities and colleges, the Armed
Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police, all offices in the
Congress of the Philippines including the offices of Senators and
Representatives, the Supreme Court and all lower courts established by law
and individual public officers and employees regardless of status of
employment and/or contractual undertaking.

Except when it is established by substantial evidence in a court proceeding

or court process that the purpose of the examination is to abet or promote or
commit criminal acts defined and/or enumerated in existing statutes or to
engage in sheer and idle curiosity, the duty to disclose shall not be denied by
reason of the motives, reasons and objects of the person seeking access to
the records or exercise of the right. Government agencies and individual
personalities having the duty to disclose under this Section are without
discretion in refusing disclosure of or access to official information or items
of public concern and interest, although without prejudice to the imposition
of reasonable regulations on the manner in which the right to information
may be exercised by the public but confined to prescribing the manner and
hours of examination so that damage to or loss of the records may be
avoided or that undue interference with the duties of the custodian of the
books and documents and other employees may be prevented, and that the
right of other persons entitled to make inspection may be insured.

SECTION 4. Definition of Terms. The duty to disclose information shall

include official information, official records, and matters of public concern
and interest.

“Information”” shall mean any knowledge, record, document, paper, report,

letters, contract, minutes and transcripts of official meetings, maps, books,
photographs, data, research material, film, sound and video recordings,
magnetic or other tapes, electronic data, computer stored data, including
testimony or oral recollection of persons having personal knowledge of the
information sought, or any other like or similar data or material recorded,
stored or archived in whatever form or format, which are made, received or
kept in or under the control and custody of any government agency under
the employ or control or supervision of the concerned government agency
under Section 3 hereof. The form in which information is maintained shall not
affect its availability.

Among the official information, official records, and matters of public

concern and interest covered under the duty to disclose are –

1. Official acts of public officers done in the pursuit of their official

functions;
2. Judicial or quasi-judicial decisions or orders as well as records of court
cases in whatever stage, and policy decisions of public officers, boards,
commissions or tribunals;
 3. Transactions, contracts and agreements imbued with public interest,
whether the government is a nominal or active contracting or counter-
party, including negotiations or definite propositions of the government
leading to the consummation of the transactions, contracts and
agreements;
4. Government research data used as basis for policy development,
enactment of statutes, rules and regulations, and execution of
transactions, contracts and agreements imbued with public interest,
whether the government is a nominal or active contracting or counter-
party, including negotiations or definite propositions of the government
leading to the consummation of the transactions, contracts and
agreements;
5. Laws, policies, rules and procedure, work programs, projects and
performance targets, performance reports;
6. Public and private writings coming into the hands of public officers in
connection with their official functions;
7. Books of account, ledgers, and other documents of whatever nature or
character used as basis for applications, reports or returns or other
documents regardless of nature or character submitted to the
government; and
8. All other information required by law to be accessible to the public.

SECTION 5. Mandatory Compliance. There shall be a legal presumption

in favor of access to information. Accordingly, government agencies shall
have the burden of proof of showing by clear and convincing evidence that
the information requested is exempted from disclosure by this Act.

a) No public officer, employee or government institution falling under Section

3 hereof shall withhold public scrutiny of sources of official information or
matters of public concern and interest under Section 4 hereof on the grounds
of national security, public order and safety or that the information is
specifically exempted from disclosure by any other statute, common law and
international law principles, and pertinent jurisprudence. PROVIDED, that the
sole and only exception to this rule on mandatory compliance is when it is
established by substantial evidence in a court proceeding or process that the
purpose of the examination is to abet or promote or commit criminal acts
defined and/or enumerated in existing statutes or to engage in sheer and
idle curiosity.

b) Government agencies shall regularly publish, print and disseminate at no

cost to the public and in an accessible form, in conjunction with R.A. 9485, or
the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007, and through their website, timely, true,
accurate and updated key information including, but not limited to:
 (1) A description of its mandate, structure, powers, functions, duties
and decision-making processes;
(2) A description of the frontline services it delivers and the
procedure and length of time by which they may be availed of;
(3) The names of its key officials, their powers, functions and
responsibilities, and their profiles and curriculum vitae;
(4) Work programs, development plans, investment plans, projects,
performance targets and accomplishments, and budgets,
revenue allotments and expenditures;
(5) Important rules and regulations, orders or decisions: Provided,
That they be published within fifteen (15) calendar days from
promulgation;
(6) Current and important database and statistics that it generates;
(7) Bidding processes and requirements; and
(8) Mechanisms or procedures by which the public may participate
in or otherwise influence the formulation of policy or the exercise
of its powers.

c) All government agencies shall upload on their websites, which shall be

regularly updated every fifteen (15) days, all the steps, negotiations and key
government positions pertaining to definite propositions of the government,
as well as the contents of the contract, agreement or treaty in the following
transactions involving public interest:

(1) Agreements entered into by a government agency with any

person or entity involving any waiver of its rights or claims;
(2) Private sector participation agreements or contracts in
infrastructure and development projects under Republic Act No.
6957, as amended by Republic Act No. 7718, authorizing the
financing, construction, operation and maintenance of
infrastructure projects;
(3) Procurement contracts entered into by a government agency;
(4) Construction or concession agreements or contracts entered
into by a government agency with any domestic or foreign
person or entity;
(5) Loans, grants, development assistance, technical assistance and
programs entered into by a government agency with official
bilateral or multilateral agencies, as well as with private aid
agencies or institutions;
(6) Loans from domestic and foreign financial institutions;
(7) Guarantees given by any government agency to government-
owned or -controlled corporations and to private corporations,
persons or entities;
(8) Public funding extended to any private entity;
 (9) Bilateral or multilateral agreements and treaties in defense,
trade, economic partnership, investments, cooperation and
similar binding commitments; or
(10) Licenses, permits or agreements given by any government
agency to any person or entity for the extraction and/or
utilization of natural resources.

d) A summary list of the foregoing information uploaded in the website shall

be posted in the bulletin boards of the concerned government agency.

e) The information uploaded in the website under this Section may be

withdrawn after a period of three (3) years from the time of uploading
provided, that an abstract of the information withdrawn shall remain
uploaded in the website, containing a brief description of the transaction and
an enumeration of the information withdrawn, and indicating the dates of
posting and withdrawal.

f) Should an agency lack the capacity to comply with this Section, the agency
shall initiate a capacity-building program, or coordinate with another
appropriate agency, to facilitate substantive compliance not later than one
(1) year upon approval of this Act.

g) All government agencies shall create and/or maintain in appropriate

formats, accurate and reasonably complete documentation or records of
their organization, policies, transactions, decisions, resolution, enactments,
actions, procedures, operations, activities, communications, documents
received or filed with them and the data generated or collected. These shall
include working files such as drafts or notes, whenever these have been
circulated within the agency for official purpose such as for discussion,
comment or approval or when these contain unique information that can
substantially contribute to a proper understanding of the agency
organization, policies, transactions, decisions, resolutions, enactments,
actions, procedures, operations, and activities;

h)Government agencies shall identify specific and classes of official records

in their custody or control that have continuing historical, administrative,
informational, legal, evidentiary, or research value for preservation by such
agencies or their legitimate successors, or for transfer to the National
Archives of the Philippines. In addition, the National Archives of the
Philippines shall likewise identify specific and classes of official records that it
shall require agencies to preserve and transfer to it.

i) In addition to the specific and classes of official records identified for

preservation, the following shall not be destroyed:
 1) Records pertaining to loans obtained or guaranteed by the
government;
2) Records of government contracts;

3) The declaration under oath of the assets, liabilities and net worth of
public officers and employees, as required by law; and
4) Records of official investigations on graft and corruption practices of
public officers.

j) Government agencies shall prepare, following standards and period

promulgated pursuant to Republic Act 9470 or the National Archives of the
Philippines Act of 2007, a records management programs that includes the
following:

1) A records maintenance system for the creation, selection, classification,

indexing and filing of official records, that facilitates easy identification,
retrieval and communication of information to the public;

2) A records maintenance, archival and disposition schedule providing a

listing of records under current use, for retention by the agency, for transfer
to the National Archives, or for destruction: Provided, That destruction of the
official records may be implemented only upon approval of the National
Archives of the Philippines; and

3) In addition to its function as repository of all rules and regulations issued

by agencies as provided under Book VII, Chapter II of the Administrative
Code of 1987, the University of the Philippines Law Center, in coordination
with the National Printing Office as the agency with exclusive printing
jurisdiction over the Official Gazette, shall maintain a database, and publish
the same in print, digital and online form, the following: a) All laws of the
Philippines and their amendments, from the period of the Philippine
Commission to the present; b) All presidential issuances from November 15,
1935 to the present, including but limited, to executive orders, presidential
proclamations, administrative orders, memorandum circulars, general
orders, and other similar issuances; c) a database of all appointments made
by the President of the Philippines; and d) opinions of the Secretary of
Justice.

k) All classified information contained in all government agency records that

(1) are more than 25 years old, and (2) have been determined to have
historical value shall be automatically declassified whether or not the records
have been reviewed. Subsequently, all classified information in such records
shall be automatically declassified no longer than 25 years from the date of
its original classification.

SECTION 6. Necessity for Court Order. The government agency or

individual public officer or employee whose pertinent records and other
sources of information have been sought for public access, as herein defined,
has the burden of showing by substantial proof that the information
requested is not official information or matter of public concern or interest,
or, if it is official information or a matter of public concern and interest, that
the purpose of the examination or inquiry is to abet or promote or commit
criminal acts defined and/or enumerated in existing statutes or to engage in
sheer and idle curiosity. In the absence of a court order, process or writ
denying or prohibiting access to official information and matters of public
concern or interest, no public officer, employee, government institution or
office, falling under Section 3 hereof, shall withhold public scrutiny of sources
of official information or matters of public concern and interest under Section
4 hereof.

SECTION 7. Jurisdiction over Matters Concerning Right. All matters

arising from this law, including but not limited to the process or procedure of
securing a court order, writ, or process denying or prohibiting access to
official information and matters of public concern or interest, shall fall within
the exclusive and original jurisdiction of the Regional Trial Court having
territorial jurisdiction over the office or branch of the public officer,
employee, government institution or office or private enterprises whose
pertinent records and other sources of information have been sought for
public access, or alternatively, over the place of residence of the party
requesting such information.

SECTION 8. Requests for Access to Information. Any person who

wishes to obtain information shall notify the government body concerned in
writing, reasonably describing the information required. All government
agencies shall expeditiously grant information requests from journalists,
subject to Section 9.

SECTION 9. Period to Disclose Information. Each government body,

upon any request for information, shall afford access to the appropriate
source of official information being requested within five (5) working days
after its receipt. In no case shall this period be extended unless there is a
need to sort, search or collect the specific official information being
requested from voluminous sources of information, in which case, the person
making the request shall be duly notified of the extension and reasons
therefor. In no case shall the extension be more than seven (7) working days
counted from the expiration of the fifth working day. The government body,
public officer or employee so requested may charge a reasonable and
standard fee to recover costs of search and reproduction.

SECTION 10. Criminal Penalties in Case of Unlawful Denial. Any

government agency or public officer or employee falling under Sec. 3 hereof
found guilty of denying access to information without valid ground or in
violation of the provisions herein set forth shall be punished with a fine of not
more than Twenty Thousand Pesos (P20,000.00) or imprisonment of at least
(6) months and one (1) day but not more than six (6) years with all the
accessory penalties provided by law, or both, at the discretion of the court.
The penalty shall be limited to the payment of fine in the case of juridical
persons, without prejudice to the imposition of the appropriate penalties
upon the erring personnel thereof.

SECTION 11. Administrative Penalties in Case of Unlawful Denial.

Denying access to information without valid ground or in violation of the
provisions herein set forth by personnel of government agencies under Sec.
3 hereof shall constitute grave misconduct punishable by dismissal from the
service with forfeiture of retirement benefits except earned leave credits or
suspension from office without pay for a period not exceeding one (1) year at
the discretion of the proper administrative body.

SECTION 12. Act Not a Bar to Claim of Right to Information Under the
Constitution. No provision of this Act shall be interpreted as a bar to any
claim of denial of the right to information under Article III, Section 7 of the
1987 Constitution.

SECTION 13. Separability Clause. If, for any reason, any part or provision
of this Act is declared invalid or unconstitutional, other parts or provisions
hereof which are not affected thereby shall continue to be in full force and
effect.

SECTION 14. Repealing Clause. All laws, decrees, executive orders, rules
and regulations, issuances or any parts thereof inconsistent with the
provisions of this Act, including Memorandum Circular No. 78 dated 14
August 1964 (Promulgating Rules Governing Security of Classified Matter in
Government Offices), as amended, and Section 3, Rule IV of the Rules
Implementing Republic Act No. 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards
for Public Officials and Employees), are deemed repealed are deemed
repealed or amended accordingly.

SECTION 15. Effectivity. This Act shall take effect after fifteen (15) days
following the completion of its publication in two (2) national newspapers of
general circulation.

Approved,