Policy Forum on FOI:
a live multimedia blog

As part of the ongoing debate over the long-delayed Freedom of Information Act (FOI), the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility is holding on Wednesday, July 27, 2011, a policy forum on the FOI.

Among the invited speakers are Undersecretary Manuel Quezon III of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Group, Atty. Nepomuceno Malaluan, lead convenor of the Bantay FOI, and Rep. Lorenzo Tanada III, chairman of the House Committee on Public Information.

Melinda Quintos De Jesus of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsiblity gives an overview of the implementation of FOI laws all over the world:

Atty. Nepomuceno Malaluan of Bantay FOI talks about the apparently contentious issues that have delayed the passage of the FOI:

Ussec. Manuel Quezon III explains the President’s position on certain provisions in the proposed FOI:

Ussec. Manuel Quezon III answers questions from the floor on why the Executive Branch seems hesitant to support the FOI bill:

Malou Mangahas, Executive Director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, confronts Ussec. Manuel Quezon III on why President Aquino appears to have backed down from the commitments he made when he was still a Presidential candidate that he would support the FOI measure: