HAMBURG, Germany – The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is not irrelevant as it still serves as a key to development, especially in developing nations, according to a German journalist and scholar.

Addressing recently 22 journalists from 17 countries participating in this year’s Summer Academy on Freedom and Responsibility, initiated by the International Institute for Journalism of InWent-Capacity Building International, veteran German journalist and scholar Dr. Manfred Redelfs said he believes that the FOIA still serves as a key to development in developing countries, including the Philippines.

“The FOIA is holding every government accountable for its action. It prevents corruption,” he said.

He said a well-informed public could help in nation- building, stressing that the access to information, particularly on government affairs, is a “prerequisite for effective citizen participation.”

“The public has a right to know how public money is being spent,” he stressed.

The Philippines is still struggling to ratify the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill, which has been pending in Congress since 2001.

Although the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides for the right of the 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 FOI bill in the 15th Congress.

Manila’s FOI bill was not ratified in the final session day of the 14th Congress due to a lack of quorum in the House of Representatives last June. There were only 128 out of 268 lawmakers who attended the session last June 4.

The Philippines is among the first 14 countries which had its law promoting 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 the United States in 1966.

Redelfs, who heads the Greenpeace’s research unit and currently serves as lecturer at the University of Hamburg, also identified the criteria for a “good FOIA,” which include the regular publication of certain types of information even without a request; all forms of information are covered such as paper, electronic records, maps; and availability of information on the Internet.

He said the FOIA should have narrow exemptions, particularly when dealing with sensitive information concerning one’s rights to privacy.

He said the FOIA should also provide for the immediate and possibly, free access to government documents.

He said several actors have played crucial roles in pushing or lobbying for a FOIA. He even noted a particular state is pressed on passing such a law because this is among the conditions set by some world financial institutions, including the World Bank.

He recalled that Germany’s FOIA, which was passed into law in 2005, but was enforced a year after, received strong opposition from the bureaucracy, majority of the ruling Social Democratic Party and the Industry Boards. Those who expressed all-out support for the bill were the Green Party, some members of the Social Democratic Party; and non-government organizations, including the Civil Liberties Union and Transparency International.

Ironically, Redelfs disclosed that several German journalists “did not care so far” whether or not the law would be passed.

In the Philippines, the new administration of President Benigno Aquino III already threw its support behind the bill, which the public hopes will serve as a powerful tool to empower them.

Redelfs also pointed out that the youths of a nation, still aiming for a FOIA, could contribute and bring in changes in a country which deprives its citizens of their right to information. This could be applied to the current situation in Vietnam where media censorship is high. The young people’s access to information through the Internet, as well as exposure to other cultures, could introduce reforms in their restricted society.

While, some claimed that FOIAs seem to be useless, he said there is something to hope for when a nation has its own FOIA.

The FOIA proves to be effective in steering the wheel of public debate in developed countries, including the US and Germany as well as some Asian countries, including Thailand, he said.

Redelfs said that if not for the FOIA, daily calendars of top state or local officials showing their working habits, including that of President George W. Bush, would not have been disclosed in the US and Germany, as well as the names of detainees at the Guantanamo prison of the US in Cuba.

If not for the FOIA, the admission system in public schools in Thailand would not have been changed and that the people would not have been informed that the German airline Lufthansa and other companies such as Philip Morris Holland B.V. have been collecting agricultural export subsidies from the European Union(EU), he claimed.

Redelfs also recognized that while some developing countries have struggled to pass their own FOIA, other countries, on the other hand, have failed to implement the law and as a result, the general public is deprived of the right to information.

In one of the Summer Academy sessions, Wikileaks editor Daniel Schmitt said the FOIA is irrelevant nowadays, considering the failure of some states to “put into practice” the right-to-access-to-information clause of such law.