Several agencies have joined the electronic Freedom of Information online portal, making it easier for citizens to request for information from them via the Internet.
These agencies are the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and its attached units, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and its attached units, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Central Office, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), and the procurement service unit of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
As a result, the public can now lodge online requests for documents via www.foi.gov.ph.
The eFOI portal is a central platform for information.
It is an initiative of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) which centralizes and digitizes processes involved in implementing the FOI program.
Currently, more than 600 requests have been lodged in the portal–with the Philippine Statistics Authority having the most number of requests (95 requests), followed by the Department of Health (88 requests), and the DBM (72 requests).
In July 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order No. 2 that operationalized in the executive branch the people’s constitutional right to information and state policies.
This was one of Duterte’s campaign promises.
(from Office for Policy and Legislative Affairs)
