MANILA, Philippines — It is still a long way for the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill to get the nod of the House of Representatives.

The House Committee on Public Information, chaired by Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, has yet to approve the technical working report (TWG) on the 11 FOI bills pending at the Lower Chamber, according to the document given by the Office of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. The approval of the TWG report is set before the end of this year.

“The TWG has come up with a report, but failed to resolve some controversial issues so we will meet again,” Evardone said.

The TWG has been ironing out the controversial provisions of the two FOI bills, filed by Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles and Camiguin Rep. Pedro P. Romualdo.

One of the provisions of Nograles’ bill - House Bill 59 - limits access to information on per administration time frame, while Romualdo’s bill introduces so many “vague and broad” exceptions, one of which is the discretion of the government to withhold information that affects national sovereignty.

FOI advocates in the House of Representatives, including Deputy Speaker and Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tañada, who principally authored House Bill 53, are counting on President Benigno S. Aquino III to express his support for the pro-transparency bill, saying that the President’s certification of the proposed Act will definitely “hasten the process.”

When the Chief Executive was still a senator, he threw his support to the bill. He even asked Tañada to spearhead the caravan for the FOI bill to boost his government’s anti-corruption governance.

Belmonte said the FOI measure was included in their list of priority bills, citing that the House version of the FOI bill “does not have to be a carbon copy” of earlier bills that were passed during the previous Congress.

The FOI bill has been pending in Congress since 2001. Though the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides for the right of people to information on matters of public concern, human rights activists, lawmakers, as well as media organizations have been pushing for the passage of the long-overdue Freedom of Information bill in the 15th Congress.

Tañada said he is hopeful that his colleagues would work towards the passage of the FOI bill to promote democracy and transparency. “There is nothing in the rulebook which says that Congress can only act on bills that the President had officially backed. A request from the President is not a requisite for congressional action on a proposed legislation,” he said.

The FOI bill was not ratified in the final session day of the 14th Congress last year due to lack of quorum in the House of Representatives. There were only 128 out of 268 lawmakers who attended the session.

The Philippines is among the first 14 countries which had its proposal promoting the freedom of information. Sweden had the oldest Freedom of the Press Act, which was passed in 1766, followed by Colombia in 1888, Finland in 1951 and United States in 1966.