CEBU – The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) commended the Cebu Provincial Government as one of the new local government units to pass Freedom of Information (FOI) Guidelines and given the plaque of recognition during the 2025 Freedom of Information Awards on November 28 at Bellevue Manila in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.
Provincial Information Officer Ainjeliz de la Torre-Orong received the on behalf of Governor Pamela Baricuatro. Transparency in governance through the FOI have been a central and distinguishing mark of the Baricuatro administration. Orong shared that upon assuming office on June 30, 2025, Governor Baricuatro signed Executive Order No. 3, which fully implements the FOI Program across the Provincial Government.
“The Provincial Government of Cebu seeks to institutionalize open governance and participatory democracy by ensuring the people’s access to information, documents, and records under the custody or control of provincial offices,” the EO reads.
The EO covers all provincial offices, departments, hospitals, instrumentalities, component offices, special units, and local special bodies, ensuring that every Filipino citizen may access information, official records, research data used for policymaking, and government transactions and decisions, subject to exceptions provided by law.
It also mandates every provincial department or office to establish an FOI Desk with a designated FOI Receiving Officer responsible for processing information requests.
Further strengthening transparency measures, Baricuatro also issued Executive Order No. 37 in July, mandating the livestreaming of all competitive bidding activities of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) through the province’s official social media page.
These include pre-procurement conferences, pre-bid conferences, bid openings, and all other BAC meetings. Mainstream media may also cover and broadcast the proceedings as long as they do not disrupt the sessions.
Capitol has also made the regular Monday sessions of the Provincial Board available to the public through livestreaming, including the ongoing committee deliberations for the 2026 proposed provincial budget.
Cebu shares the honor with other LGUs
nationwide that demonstrate strong commitment to transparency and access to
information through the sustained and institutionalized implementation of the
FOI Program, affirming the government’s continuing effort to uphold the
people’s right to information and promote a culture of open governance. (Photos: Capitol PIO)
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