PCOO holds FOI campus caravan in MMSU

The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), in partnership with the MMSU, conducted last October 18 the Freedom of Information (FOI) campus caravan at the university Function Hall in order to inform the academic community the salient provisions of the law as roadmap towards government transparency.

 

Led by Communications Secretary Jose Ruperto Martin Andanar, the campus caravan presented the FOI law as one of the banner programs of the PCOO, which is now being rolled out nationwide to ensure massive advocacy campaign on its implementation, adoption, and usage.

 

"This FOI advocacy campaign here in MMSU  is in line with Executive Order (EO) No. 2, series of 2016, signed by President Rodrigo R. Duterte in order to operationalize the Constitutional mandate of the People's Right to Information," Andanar said in his keynote address before hundreds of students and faculty members who attended the activity at the MMSU Function Hall.

 

Andanar said the FOI campaign envisions the massive use of the FOI Program as a research tool in the libraries, and in the school; and the implementation of the FOI Program through the use of its Standard (Paper-Based) and Electronic (eFOI Portal) Platforms in the conduct of research.

 

The Secretary believes that access to information has always been and will always be a right for every Filipino.

 

Highlighting the FOI campus caravan was the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Secretary Andanar and MMSU President Shirley C. Agrupis for the institutionalization of the implementation of the FOI program in the university.

 

"Public records of government offices, such as MMSU, can now be accessed by the public," Andanar said, adding that a lot of national agencies have become compliant to this FOI law. 

 

"As early as now, 99 percent of all state colleges and universities (SUCs) in the country are compliant to FOI law, while 88 percent and 38 percent of all government and controlled corporations (GOCCs), and local water districts, respectively, have already joined the list." Andanar said, assuring that when the work in the government is open for examination by the public, the people become the prime participants in checking on the misuse of funds. 

 

Meanwhile, PCOO Assistant Secretary and FOI Program Director Atty. Kristian Ablan said the FOI program is a landmark policy of the Duterte administration which upholds the constitutional right of the people to information on matters of public concern.

 

The Ilocos Norte leg of the PCOO roadshow is the last leg in the Ilocos Region. 

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