AFTER 15 years of lobbying, the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act might finally become law before the end of this 15th Congress.

Malacañang’s version of the FOI bill has been endorsed to the House of Representatives Committee on Public Information. This time the Palace has more than enough allies in Congress for the measure to see the light of day.

While other landmark and constitutionally based measures such as the Senior Citizens Act and the Free Public Secondary Education Act have sailed through Congress and have been enacted into law without a hitch many years ago, the FOI bill had been snagged at the committee level of Congress interminably, it seems.

For instance, in June 2010, advocates of the FOI bill in the House did a full-court press on their colleagues to get the bicameral conference committee report ratified. It seemed then, too, that the bill would finally become law.

But Congress went on a long campaign break without ratifying the FOI bill. There were even some accusations of sabotage, like the sudden disappearance of copies of the bicameral committee report meant for distribution to House members, or the mysterious lack of quorum on the last day of session.

That was during a different administration though, one that was known to talk transparency but practice subterfuge (think EO 464 and executive privilege), and where a measure seeking to ensure full disclosure of government transactions and documents was not exactly the most welcome piece of legislation.

Today, the political climate is much different. No less than President Aquino has endorsed the FOI bill, and the House is dominated by his allies.

Besides, even when he was campaigning, the President promised that his administration would institutionalize transparency and accountability and would be the direct opposite of his predecessor’s administration.

The FOI law would be an important pillar in the Aquino administration’s Good Governance and Anti-Corruption Plan for 2012 to 2016.

The Palace version of the FOI bill requires all government agencies to publish contracts and agreements, as well as the annual Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALNs) of national officials, including justices of the Supreme Court.

The mandatory disclosure to the public without condition of all official transactions and government officials’ SALNs is a huge step in the transparency process. Without access to such documents, there would be no accountability. We see its importance in ensuring good governance and combatting corruption. It would also strengthen the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

The SALN is a public document that every civil servant, elected or otherwise, submits every year. There should be no trouble getting one. But people, including journalists, who have tried to get the SALN of public officials, will tell you that they are often given the runaround. If they manage to get the SALN successfully, it is often less than truthful, riddled with un-declarations and underdeclarations that it is impossible to know what the public official’s true state of finances are based on the document alone.

Nondisclosure of the SALN is included in the eight Articles of Impeachment against Chief Justice Renato Corona. Corona, in refusing to disclose his SALN, cited the Supreme Court’s nondisclosure policy.

Even members of Congress have in the past been hesitant about disclosing their SALNs although they wouldn’t be caught dead saying so. They will say they are for the full disclosure of public records but any reporter who has tried getting legislators’ SALNs knows that it’s not that easy to get them, that there’s a very tedious process involved before they are released

This is precisely the tediousness, and the lack of transparency and openness, the FOI bill wants to solve.

The enactment of the FOI bill into law is long overdue. We join FOI advocates in praying and hoping that this time legislators are not just shooting their mouths off when they talk about a transparent and accountable government.