By Genalyn Kabiling

As many as 277 requests have been made as of Sunday, December 11, through the country’s freedom of information (FOI) website, which is part of the government’s FOI initiative that it recently showcased during a summit in France.

Of these requests, at least seven requests have been granted while 22 were denied.

The top requested agencies are:

Department of Health

Philippine Statistics Authority

Department of Budget and Management

Department of Transportation

Philippine National Police

The granted information requests included:

Development of the PAO retirees benefit claim

Ethnographic population in the Philippines

Breakdown of religious affiliations of Filipinos from 1990–2016

Hiring government career employees

Among the requests denied were information on the following:

Status of corruption case against Binay

Acquiring land title procedures

List of building contractors in the Philippines

List of the alleged ill-gotten wealth properties of former President Marcos confiscated by PCGG

The public can request for access to government records via the official FOI website or offices within the executive branch.

The government listed nine exemptions to the release of information such as those national security, executive privilege, invasion of privacy.

Read more: FOI website for executive branch to launch Nov. 25

During the Open Government Partnership (OGP) summit in Paris last December 7–9, the Philippine delegation reveled in its FOI order in bolstering transparency and accountability in government.

Presidential communications secretary Martin Andanar, Senator Grace Poe and budget secretary Benjamin Diokno were among the delegation.

“As a prime mover of executive FOI, we are here to share our initial experience in Freedom of Information and learn from the veterans of open government and open data,” Andanar said.

The annual OGP summit gathers representatives from government, business, academia, civil society groups to tackle measures towards making government data available to the public.

Open government initiatives aim to institutionalize good governance and citizen empowerment.

In July, President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order No. 2 mandating the full public disclosure of information in offices under the executive branch, an unprecedented move as past administrations failed to pass FOI measures into law.