Gov’t agencies told: Upload FOI manuals by October 1

MANILA, Philippines – The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) told government agencies to upload their freedom of information (FOI) manuals by October 1.

Agencies should comply with this before the start of the validation process on their eligibility to the performance-based bonus (PBB), the PCOO said in a statement on Thursday, August 31.

On or before October 1, agencies should upload their FOI People’s Manuals to the Transparency Seal pages of their respective websites.

Then, each agency “shall send a letter to the PCOO requesting for a validation of their compliance. Once confirmed, the PCOO will then issue a Compliance Certificate signed by the FOI Program Director,” the PCOO added.

The certificate “will serve as the official document that will be submitted to the Task Force AO [Administrative Order] 25.”

The deadline for the validation request letter is at 12 midnight of October 1.

The inclusion of the FOI criteria for the grant of the PBB was an initiative of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on the Harmonization of National Government Performance Monitoring, Information and Reporting Systems or Task Force AO 25, explained the PCOO.

The PCOO also said it had issued a memorandum circular on the validation process.

The FOI program to promote transparency in government took effect after President Rodrigo Duterte signed in July 2016 Executive Order No. 2, which mandates the full public disclosure of all offices under the executive branch. – Michael Bueza/Rappler.com