The Right To Information: An Investigation into the Legal Framework and Implementation in the Philippines

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe citizens' right to access government information, through legislations like the Right to Information (RTI), is now the norm especially in democratic countries. However, the effectiveness of its implementation is still a challenge. This paper investigates the legal framework and the implementation of RTI in the Philippines by examining the Executive Order no. 2 and analysing a sample of 180 RTI requests submitted to the three government agencies with the greatest number of requests. Findings reveal issues on accessibility, FOI literacy, and privacy happening across the three government agencies. We argue that these issues are related to institutional capacity. This paper contributes to the literature examining the implementation of RTI, especially in developing countries.