NATION-BUILDING can only be possible via the exercise of freedom, which includes the freedom of information.

This is what the Sanggunian pointed out to the 15th Congress in a letter pushing for the passage of House Bill 3732, also known as the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill.

The FOI bill allows Filipinos to access public documents and government transactions. The 14th Congress failed to pass the bill on its last session on June 4 due to a lack of quorum.

The FOI bill is currently being re-filed in the 15th Congress.

No more misconceptions

School of Social Science (SOSS) Senior Central Board Representative Gino Limcumpao said that the passage of the FOI bill is worth fighting for. “We [would] like [for the bill] to [be passed]…in order to make the government transparent to everyone.”

The 1987 Constitution guarantees the right to free information. As stated in Section 7, Article III everyone is entitled to information on government decisions while Section 8, Article II affirms that the State should implement a policy of full disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest.

The letter also stated that concrete information open to the public would remove misconceptions that government officials are corrupt.

“The bill can serve as a deterrent… towards mitigating corruption, rather than the habit of going after corrupt officials one by one,” the letter also stated.

Engaging citizens

The letter released by Sanggu was written by the volunteers of the Socio-Political Alliance, a project under SOSS.

The volunteers discussed with SOSS Chair Karen Vera the direction that the letter will take, after which the actual writing started.

After the first draft was finished, it was sent to various Sanggu officials for comments and revisions.

“[The letter] went through Sanggu to check if it’s okay, if the principles of Sanggu and the principles of the Ateneo community are there,” Vera said.

Once a final letter is available, Sanggu will set up booths around campus so that the students can sign if they believe that the FOI bill should be passed. The signature campaign will be sent to Congress a week later.

Vera said that the Sanggu is not forcing the students to participate in the signature campaign. “We want people to know what [the bill] is… And then after that, we hope that we were able to at least touch them, sort of share the same sentiments.”

Sanggu President Rob Roque added that part of Sanggu’s thrust for the year is forming the students to become engaged citizens.

“Being an engaged citizen means knowing what the government is doing,” he said. “Being able to engage means holding the government officials accountable [for their actions].”

A more participative student body

Most of the volunteers who wrote the letter came from the student body, and not just Sanggu members and officials.

Roque said that the idea was to invite students to participate in drafting the letter. “The approach really is to change the paradigm that Sanggu is more imperialistic.”

He added that Sanggu wanted to make an Ateneo student body stand, not just Sanggu’s.

“[The letter is] not a Sanggu statement. It’s inviting [the students] to own [the cause] if they do want it.”

Doing what they can

Sophomore Arnold Lindros Lau hoped that the passage of the FOI bill will result in a culture of information-based research that will prevent debates based on half-truths. “It’ll prevent generalizations such as [the government being presumed as corrupt].”

As of press time, Sanggu’s only action is to prepare a signature campaign that would lobby for the passage of the FOI bill.

“We’re planning to have the FOI bill lobbied first. And then we’ll see after that,” Vera said.

Whether the bill may be lobbied or not, Roque said that “We will see what we can do. We will do what we can to pass the FOI bill.”