Pass FOI bill!
Cayetano to
House: Restore Filipino people’s faith government
By Office of the Senate
Majority Leader
March 10, 2014
PASAY CITY – "Let us
pass the FOI bill now! Para matakot ang mga kurakot!”
Senate Majority Leader Alan
Peter “Companero” S. Cayetano strongly and respectfully urged his
colleagues in the House of Representatives to follow the lead of the
Senate and respond to the Filipino public’s clamor for the immediate
enactment into law of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill.
“The House, the Senate, and
Malacanang should be partners in promoting transparency in the
country. Enacting the FOI measure into law is a good first step in
regaining the people’s trust in the three branches of the government,”
Cayetano noted.
Cayetano said now that the
Senate has passed FOI measure for the third time, the last two
instances in less than a year, it is now up to the lower house to do
its part and pass the landmark bill that will empower the Filipino
people in being active participants in the fight against graft and
corruption.
“Aminin na natin na mahalaga
na maibalik ang pagtitiwala ng mga tao sa gobyerno. Magagawa natin ito
kung maipapasa natin ang mahahalagang batas katulad ng FOI bill. Sana
naman, maisabatas na ito para medaling makita kahit na ng ordinaryong
mamamayan kung may anomalya sa gobyerno,” the senator said.
The FOI bill was approved by
the Senate in the 15th and 14th Congress, but it failed to hurdle
deliberations in the House.
Cayetano said that at the
time, he was optimistic that the Aquino administration has regained
the trust of the people in government through its advocacy of a “tuwid
na daan”
“But now reality has changed
this optimism into exigency as numerous scandals already threaten to
destroy the people’s trust in government that the administration has
been trying to rebuild,” he said.
“In a time when our
citizenry is already so sick of corruption, abuse of power, and
deception, we need to pass a measure that would ensure our people of a
government that is truly for the people,” Cayetano stressed.
With an FOI law in place,
Cayetano assured that every Filipino would have the capacity to be “a
graft-buster, a reformist, and a crucial building block of an
empowered citizenry united in aiming for national development.”