Philippines

Name of law: Executive Order No. 02, s. 2016
First adopted: 2016
Last modified: 2016-08
RTI Rating last updated: 2016-09

Introduction

The Philippines’ codification of the constitutional right to information has been extremely poor and its performance places them near the bottom of the RTI rankings. Its most notable weakness is the law’s underdeveloped appeals system, which completely omits an external route for reconsideration of refusals, in the form of an independent administrative body. Additional areas of weaknesses include a restrictive scope that does not apply to the legislature or judiciary, vague rules relating to the information required for the initial request, and its extremely weak exceptions system. Almost all exceptions are either overbroad or illegitimate and there is a harm-test for the exemptions nor a mandatory public interest override.