Killing the "Freedom of Information" bill

Today, the leaders of the Philippines' House of Representatives, have masterfully killed the "Freedom of Information" (FOI) bill. The bill, 14 years in the making, already hurdled the bicameral conference committee of the Senate and the House, and only needed ratification by the lower House.



The displeasure of the House leadership, and most likely also the outgoing President of the country, of this bill is clear. Just a few months ago before the recent May 10elections, the House ratified several bills that hurdled the bicameral conf. committee, except the FOI bill.

And as mentioned, this bill has been proposed for the last 14 years until this year. Advanced by a number of civil society groups and media.

This is one example how BIG government is never happy with more transparency and more accountability.

There was one consolation though: a bill creating a new bureaucracy, the "Philippine Tax Academy" was also not ratified today.