Parañaque 2nd District Representative Brian Raymund Yamsuan has commended his fellow lawmakers, representatives of government agencies, and other stakeholders for the substantial progress achieved by the Technical Working Group (TWG) tasked with finetuning the provisions of the proposed Right To Information (RTI) Act.
Yamsuan, who heads the TWG on the RTI bill, said members of the panel have already discussed amendments to more than half of the bill’s sections and agreed to adopt its non-contentious provisions to help speed up deliberations on the measure.
“As of March 2, which was our second TWG meeting, the panel has already discussed provisions covering 32 of the bill’s proposed 52 sections. We thank our fellow legislators, the officials of government agencies, the representatives from civil society organizations and other right-to-information advocates who have been providing valuable inputs and recommendations to finetune the provisions of the measure,” said Yamsuan, a vice chairperson of the House Committee on Public Information.
“The pace of the discussions in our TWG meetings reflect our collective goal in pushing the passage of this landmark piece of legislation and our shared commitment to transparency and accountability in government,” he added.
Yamsuan said a key provision discussed during the TWG meeting is the need to strike a balance between access to information and the protection of personal data in accordance with Republic Act 10173 or the Data Privacy Act.
The members of the panel posed no objections to Section 27 of the bill on the disclosure of the Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) of public officials and employees subject to existing laws, rules and regulations, Yamsuan said.
“We are optimistic that we can submit a committee report soon so that the House would have enough time to deliberate the substitute bill on the floor and have it approved on third and final reading before the sine die adjournment of the first regular session in June,” Yamsuan said.
The RTI bill is among the 21 priority measures of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) that were approved by President Ferdinand R Marcos Jr. and targeted for congressional approval by June 2026.
The TWG’s working draft, which aims to consolidate more than 20 RTI measures, is lodged in the public information committee chaired by Cagayan de Oro Rep. Lordan Suan.
Yamsuan thanked Rep. Suan and FPJ Panday Bayanihan Party-list Rep. Brian Poe for temporarily presiding over the TWG last February 23.
In the TWG meeting presided by Yamsuan on March 2, the panel also discussed the bill’s provisions on accessing information and the available remedies in cases of denied requests.
The TWG also deliberated on provisions outlining the institutional accountability of government agencies, including the designation of RTI officers and the preparation of Freedom of Information (FOI) manuals in public offices.
Yamsuan said up for discussion during the next TWG meeting are the list of exceptions to the grant of access to information, such as cases which directly relates to national security and defense, and sensitive data involving the foreign affairs of the state.
