An ally of presidential front-runner Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III said on Saturday that he would refile the controversial Freedom of Information Bill when the 15th Congress convenes next month and will hasten its immediate passage. But, in the meantime, Liberal Party (LP) Rep. Lorenzo Ta?ada III of Quezon said that pending the approval of the bill, he would request Aquino to issue an executive order (EO) that will lay down the procedure on how to request for information from government agencies. In a telephone interview with the Business Mirror, Ta?ada said as soon as he filed the bill, he would also ask Aquino to certify the measure as urgent. Sen. Alan Cayetano, who chairs the Senate committee that cosponsored the aborted Freedom of Information Bill, echoed Ta?ada by suggesting that the incoming administration could issue an executive order allowing public access to documents on government transactions while waiting for the next Congress to pass the landmark legislation. Cayetano added that all is not lost because Aquino can, upon assumption to his new post on June 30, issue an executive order enforcing the Freedom of Information Bill through executive fiat. “In the meantime an EO can be issued by the incoming administration directing the agencies to share the information needed by any individual but we do not expect the outgoing Arroyo administration to do that,” Cayetano said. Another ally of Aquino, LP Rep. Neptali Gonzales II of Mandaluyong City said once the bill is refiled in the 15th Congress, particularly the House of Representatives, which is expected to be dominated by the incoming administration, would try to approve it in three to six months. The House became the subject of criticisms by supporters of the bill when it failed to ratify it on Friday after a proadministration legislator questioned the quorum in the Chamber. Relatedly, Gonzales said on Saturday that supporters of the “killed” bill should not blame Speaker Prospero Nograles for the failure of the House of Representatives to ratify it before Congress went on sine die adjournment on Friday. The House, in plenary session, failed to ratify the measure after Lakas-Kampi-CMD Rep. Pedro Romualdo of Camiguin questioned the quorum, prompting Nograles to call for a roll call. Following the roll call, it turned out that there were only 128 congressmen present. It needs 135 legislators to constitute a quorum. According to Gonzales, Nograles pleaded “almost on bended knees” to Romualdo to withdraw the question of quorum which he raised on the floor. But Romualdo stood pat on his earlier position and asserted his motion. On Friday even before the session started, Nograles assured that the FOI is on the House's priority agenda, claiming that “if the Speaker of the House is against the FOI the measure would not have gone this far.” But what Nograles's critics are questioning was his act of not compelling the congressmen inside the Batasan Complex to appear at the session hall. According to Ta?ada, the House secretary-general said there were 142 congressmen prior to the roll call. Nograles debunked claims that the non-ratification of the bill was premeditated and “scripted” and pointed out that he himself was frustrated by the failure of the House to ratify the measure, together with the other pending bills which only needed their final approval in the final session of the 14th Congress. “What scripted are they talking about? It was in open public transparent plenary session. That's a very unfair accusation. Some members posed questions about the bill having penal provisions should be prospective and not retroactive and wanted the sponsor to clarify the intent of the law on record after the same was ratified. (Lakas) Rep. (Bienvenido) Abante (of Manila) would have clarified the same after ratification and not before for the House Journal record. Nothing malicious,” he said.
