PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. yesterday urged Congress anew to pass the bills on the Right to Information and the Progressive Budgeting for Better and Modernized (PBBM) Governance to uphold the right of the public to information and promote transparency, especially in the handling and spending of public funds.
The President endorsed the two legislative measures in his budget message that accompanied the submission of the proposed P6.79 trillion budget for 2026.
“We aim for the passage of the Right to Information bill to institutionalize upholding the people’s constitutional right to information,” Marcos said in his message.
Last February, the President, during the Open Government Partnership 2025, highlighted the need for a legislated Freedom of Information (FOI) act that would enable the public to fully participate in governance.
“Our people can only truly participate in governance if they have access to information. This access is made possible by government transparency, digitalization, and the institutionalization of freedom of information through legislation — which is a constitutionally recognized principle,” Marcos said then.
Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Secretary Amenah Pangandaman previously stated that the administration is hoping the FOI bill would be enacted, if not considered as a legislative priority under the 20th Congress.
The President said the PBBM Governance bill, once enacted, will strengthen the government’s best practices on public fiscal management by strengthening cash management through the institutionalization of the Treasury Single Account.
It would also help expedite the digitalization of public fiscal management systems through the adoption of the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) and promote fiscal discipline through the institutionalization of a cash budgeting system.
Marcos, during his fourth State of the Nation Address, asked Congress to amend the Coconut Farmers and Industry Trust Fund Act and the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino program (4Ps) to make them more responsive to the needs of the coconut farmers and the indigent beneficiaries amid the changing times.
In his President’s Report to the People, he also endorsed nine legislative measures that aim to uplift the lives of Filipinos and boost the country’s economy and development. These include the National Land Use Act, Department of Water Resources Act, amendment of the Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010, Excise Tax on Single-Use Plastics, Blue Economy Act, Waste-to-Energy Bill, amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001, New Government Auditing Code, and Budget Modernization Act.
