MANILA, Philippines—Confident it will get the backing of majority of lawmakers in the House of Representatives, a party-list group on Tuesday vowed to revive the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill in the 15th Congress next month.

Bayan Muna Representative Teodoro Casino said his group will lead in filing the bill that the House failed to ratify due to lack of quorum.

“Definitely, Bayan Muna will re-file the FOI bill,” Casino said, but stressed that what they will file will be a tougher version.

“We’re planning to strengthen some of the provisions that may have been watered down in the House final version and the bicameral conference committee report,” he added.

Casino said he expects that support for the bill will cut across political parties.

“I presume that next Congress, we will be working with the Liberal Party, Nacionalista Party, and even the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) and Lakas-Kampi on this one,” he said.

The FOI bill, which guarantees the public’s right to information and promotes disclosure of government transactions, was struck down in the House of Representatives because of the absence of quorum.

The bill needed only the ratification of the House before it was to be sent to the Office of the President for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s signature.

By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez

INQUIRER.net

Filed Under: Media , Justice & Rights , Laws

First Posted 11:56:00 06/15/2010

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100615-275717/Freedom-of-Information-bill-to-be-re-filed