PRESIDENT Marcos Jr. yesterday called for the institutionalization of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill to promote not just transparency but al-so encourage people participation in open governance.
The President made the pitch during the opening plenary of the 2025 Open Government Partnership (OGP) Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting (APRM) held at the Grand Hyatt Manila at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City.
The proposed People’s Freedom of Information Act, or Senate Bill 2880, is pending on second reading in the Senate.
The approval of the measure is a crucial step in implementing the consti-tutional right of the people to information on matters of public concerns, Marcos said.
The President said the government has enhanced its efforts to build a more responsive, inclusive, and transparent government under the “Ba-gong Pilipinas” initiative in keeping with its international commitment to promote open and participatory governance.
He also said that measures have been adopted to promote civic en-gagements in all levels of society to create transformative and impactful changes down to the grassroots level.
Among these measures are the Citizen Participatory Audit Program, the Grassroots Participatory Budgeting, and the launching of the Open Data Portal which allows public participation in the governance process and in enriching policy and program implementation.
“We, in the government, are keenly determined to sustain this momen-tum of best practices. However, 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 institutional-ization of freedom of information through legislation — which is a consti-tutionally recognized principle,” the President said.
He underscored that by actively involving the citizens in the decision-making process, “we establish their significant influence on policy devel-opment, as it should be.”
Marcos said the country’s hosting of the OGP-APRM this year is proof that the administration has embraced open governance as part of its na-tional identity under the Bagong Pilipinas system and its sincerity to make government processes more responsive, inclusive, and transpar-ent.
He said around 4,000 local government units and civil society organiza-tions have pledged their commitment to open governance through the nationwide advocacy campaign “OGPinas!”
“In fact, our socioeconomic transformation blueprint, the Philippine De-velopment Plan of 2023 to 2028, identifies OGP as a key mechanism to deepen participatory governance,” he said.
The OGP, established in 2011, seeks to promote transparency and ac-countability, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new tech-nologies to strengthen governance among member countries.
The Philippines is one of eight founding members of the Open Govern-ment Partnership (OGP), alongside Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The President in 2023, issued Executive Order No. 31 that institutional-ized the Philippine OGP as a multi-stakeholder partnership.
