The need for an access to information law

”The Philippines is a robust democracy,” said Toby Mendel, executive director of Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) Canada. “It’s hard to understand” why it doesn’t have an access to information law, he said.

CLD has a methodology for assessing the strength of the legal framework for access to information.

On September 28, the organization released a report comparing how public authorities in 140 countries with right to information laws responded to the same two information requests.

The Philippines, with its Executive Order (E.O. No. 2, Series of 2016) on access to information, is in the bottom 10.

“The Executive Order is inherently limited because it just applies to the executive, and there are limitations in what you can put in it,” Mr. Mendel told BusinessWorld.

The Philippines has been working on legislation for access to information for over 30 years.