00:00The Presidential Communications Office and UNESCO spearheaded the opening ceremony for the celebration of the International Day for Universal Access to Information.
00:10Gav Villegas give us the full details of this story.
00:15Hundreds of delegates from various countries attended the opening ceremony of the celebration of the International Day for Universal Access to Information
00:23organized by the Presidential Communications Office through the FOI Program Management Office and UNESCO.
00:30The purpose of the annual conference is to improve the right of citizens to access information, laws, policies, and frameworks.
00:37It also provides insights and exchange ideas on building access to information at the global level.
00:44PCO Secretary Dave Gomez and UNESCO Resident Coordinator to the Philippines Arnold Peral led the opening ceremony of the IDUAY 2025 in Pasay City.
00:54In his speech, Secretary Gomez says the country needs to have a government that listens and responds to the citizens under the Bagong Pilipinas agenda.
01:03The government also continues to strengthen local government units to bring freedom of information to every Filipino.
01:09The PCO, in partnership with the Philippine Open Government Partnership, is engaging with stakeholders to further improve and promote the Right to Information bill.
01:17Secretary Gomez is expected to urge President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to certify the bill as urgent to push for the Right to Information bill into law.
01:27We heard the voices of Filipinos loudly calling, clamoring for an FOI law, and I take this opportunity to urge our lawmakers, civil society leaders, and fellow public servants to come together in finally enacting the Right to Information bill for the Philippines, one that upholds global standards and empowers our democracy.
01:49For Mr. Peral, this day is an important reminder that no one should be left behind in access to information.
01:56We have to publish accessible data, intercommunicable also data, not only from the executive branch but also justice and legislative branches, local governments' access also to information.
02:11And to leave no one behind, indigenous groups, youth, we have to translate also and to make accessible the data to everybody, in particular in issues so critical as environmental.
02:24In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted September 28 as the International Day for Universal Access to Information.
02:33The said global conference will last until tomorrow, September 30, when the Manila Statement is expected to be released that calls on countries to urgently accelerate the passage of access to information legislation as a key step in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal Target 16.10 by 2030.
02:52Gab Villegas from the National TV Network for a New and Better Philippines.
