For Your Information: What You Can Do to Support FOI

We can do several things to contribute to the campaign for Freedom of Information. Here are only some of them:

• Before anything else, read the FOI Bill. Going through it is a breeze. It may be 15 pages long, but we’re pretty sure you’ll get what it’s all about easily: http://youth4foi.blogspot.com/p/the-foi-bill.html.

• Find out who your District Representative is and write to him or her to support the FOI Bill. The more letters you and your friends send, the more chances of ensuring that your legislator will fulfill his or her role to represent your interests. You can find their contact information here: http://bit.ly/QCpgsI.

• Don’t forget the Party-List Representatives. They have equal powers and responsibilities as District Representatives in committee meetings and plenary sessions. Write to them as well: http://bit.ly/RscmNk.

• You don’t have to be geographically limited in choosing which Representative to write to. If you’re students, it would also be helpful if you write to your schools alumni in Congress. Many of them were actually student leaders back in the day, so why don’t you use that to your advantage to further a cause that you student leaders of today believe in.

• Write to the members and officers of the Committee on Public Information of the House of Representatives: http://bit.ly/SWBrNp.

• Let’s not leave out the Senate. Even if their FOI Bill (which they call the POGI Bill) is moving faster that its House counterpart, it would also be beneficial if we write to our Senators: http://bit.ly/UALusQ.

• At the local level, you can tap officials in your city or municipality to pass a resolution supporting the FOI proposal in Congress. It may not have the force of law, but a resolution of support from your locality would be a big contribution to the people’s clamor for transparency. Just make sure the adopted resolution gets to our legislators in the House and Senate.

• Get media attention through activities that call for the passage of the FOI Bill. These activities should be creative, innovative, and of course, within the bounds of the law. You can hold a forum, a press conference, a mobilization, etc. Contact your local media organizations beforehand  so they will be ready to cover your event.

• Educate our fellow young people by holding discussions on the FOI Bill. This is a great way to recruit them to our campaign for accountability and transparency in government. Remember, just like with FOI, information is empowerment.

• Take social media by storm. Post, share, blog, and tweet about FOI. For Twitter, use the hashtag #FOInow. You can also retweet us at https://twitter.com/Youth4FOI.

• Since you’re already online, tweet our legislators to support the bill. A lot of them actually have Twitter accounts: http://bit.ly/Scuu0e.

• Sign the petition at http://ifoi.ph/support/.

• Get a PicBadge at http://bit.ly/P3RBsR.

• You can also show your support through SMS! Text ‘I support FOI <space> NAME <space> AGE <space> CITY/MUNICIPALITY’ and send to 0919FOI5501 (09193645501).

• Have your organization write a statement of support for FOI. We’d be glad to forward this to our legislators. Email us at Youth4FOI@gmail.com.

• Your organization can also be one of the signatories of our manifesto: http://youth4foi.blogspot.com/p/our-manifesto.html.Send us a message through our Facebook page [https://www.facebook.com/Youth4FOI] or email us to express your intent to sign so we can add your organization immediately.

• Join us in attending hearings at the House of Representatives and the Senate. Watch out for updates in our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Youth4FOI.

Marami pang maaaring gawin para maisulong ang ating panawagan na mapasa ang FOI bilang batas. Kabataan, magbuklod tayo para sa isang pamahalaang bukas at may pananagutan!