Malacañang favors reducing exemptions on the proposed Freedom of Information (FOI) bill to 10 but warned of privacy breach if the bill becomes law. The Office of the Executive Secretary is trying to put the 166 [initial exemptions]under 10 digestible sections for the public,” Ablan told lawmakers. “We are working on the wordings on acknowledging this [under the FOI law]. But for lawyer Irene Aguila of the Right to Know Right Now Network, a coalition of 150 organizations advocating passage of the FOI bill, an FOI law should facilitate access to information, not restrict it. She cited the existing Memorandum Circular (MC) 78 dating back to 1964, which provides for classification of government documents, should not be made iron-clad under the FOI law.

Source: Manila Times October 11, 2016 10:07 UTC