Fernan Carigma

Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman has called on the newly elected lawmakers to immediately pass the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill to promote transparency and accountability in the government.


Pangandaman emphasized the bill’s urgency in safeguarding the public’s right to access government-held information during her speech in the Open Government Week closing rites at the Luxent Hotel in Quezon City, May 23.

“We have yet to pass an enabling law that will truly uphold people’s constitutional right to information,” she said during her keynote address.

The FOI bill, pending in Congress for years, seeks to institutionalize citizens' access to public records and require all government agencies to disclose relevant data.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is working closely with stakeholders to refine the bill’s provisions before presenting it to the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).

Since April, the DBM and the Philippine Open Government Partnership (PH-OGP) have conducted consultations with national agencies, civil society groups, academics, and business groups.

The FOI bill proposes mandatory disclosure of budgetary data across government branches, with response times depending on the complexity of requests, which Pangandaman said would reinforce other reform initiatives such as the New Government Procurement Act and the Public Financial Management Roadmap 2024–2028.

In the absence of a national law, only 88 local government units (LGUs) have passed FOI ordinances promoting local transparency and accountability.

“We need more champions of transparency at the local level,” Pangandaman urged, encouraging more LGUs to adopt similar measures nationwide.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) has already processed over 400,000 FOI requests through online platforms and transparency programs.

Despite lacking an FOI law, the Philippines ranks as Asia’s most fiscally transparent country, based on the latest Open Budget Survey, and has improved its standing in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index.

“These game-changing reforms are anchored in transparency, accountability, and citizen engagement,” Pangandaman concluded.