DAVAO CITY – Youth advocates of Freedom of Information Bill (HB 5801) said that it is an important election issue among political aspirants.
Rafaela “Paeng” David, national chairperson of Akbayan Youth, said they “hope to see the FOI bill passed into law before the year ends.”
During the first leg of the FOI Caravan held here Monday, local youth organizations attended the event dubbed as #Youth4FOI “to know more about the bill and how they can broaden the youth coalition in Mindanao that will call for the passage of the Freedom of Information Act in the 16th Congress.”
The said event is organized by the National Youth Commission (NYC) in partnership with Action for Economic Reforms (AER).
In a press release, David said the forum “aims to stir a movement among the youth to better understand and continue fighting for the passage of the FOI bill, and to appeal to the country’s leaders to deliver their promise of institutionalizing transparency and accountability in government before an opportunity for genuine change is missed yet again.”
NYC Associate Secretary Kit Cruz said, “there is still time for the bill to be passed so long as the legislative process does not get hampered by the election season.”
Cruz added that they have “faith in our FOI champions” inside the house of representatives that “will continue to fight for it especially with this great demand from the youth.”
“Through this series of FOI activities, we convince more legislators to be part of the movement to finally put into law a Freedom of Information act,” she said. (davaotoday.com)
