PH-CHILE. Members of the Philippines' Freedom of Information Project Management Office (FOI-PMO) delegation pose for a photo opportunity with the Chilean Council for Transparency officials after a productive learning session in Chile last week. Communications Undersecretary and FOI Program Director Kristian Ablan considered the meeting a rare opportunity that rendered a fruitful exchange of experience in terms of facilitating access to information in both the Philippines and Chile. (Contributed photo) MANILA - Aside from the technical cooperation visit with the National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information, and Personal Data Protection (INAI) in Mexico, the Freedom of Information Project Management Office (FOI PMO) delegation also had a brief yet productive learning session with the Chilean Council for Transparency last week. President Counselor Gloria de la Fuente and Chief-of-Staff Rodrigo Mora of the Chilean Council for Transparency were generous and candid on doing a walkthrough of Chile's legislation and system that guarantee and facilitate its citizens' access to public information and protection of personal data. As part of the Chilean perspective on access to information (ATI), de la Fuente shared that by enabling a transparency system (i.e., having an ATI law), the state installs social control of society by letting its people have information. "Because of our transparency system, the fiscalization of public interest topics became permanent... apparent too in our procurement and bidding process," de la Fuente said. Mora, with his long-standing experience in public policy, heads the monitoring of compliance of over a thousand obligated subjects such as local transparency units and central state organizations. "We have a system for appeals whenever a citizen feels that public information is not delivered. We have also put sanctions in place in case there is non-compliance of obligated subjects," he said. PCOO Undersecretary and FOI Program Director Kristian Ablan considered the meeting a rare opportunity that rendered a fruitful exchange of experience in terms of facilitating access to information in both the Philippines and Chile. To further strengthen the budding relationship between the FOI PMO and the Chilean Council for Transparency, both parties are open and looking forward to conducting a virtual study visit. Chile and Mexico are members of a network (redrta.org) that promotes transparency, access to public information, and personal data protection in the Latin American region. After hearing the Chilean Council for Transparency's stance, the FOI PMO has put in its action items the replication of a similar regional network in Asia as it intends to host the Asian Access to Information Alliance next year. "We learned so much from the Mexican and Chilean experiences on access to information. It is in our vision to recreate something similar in the Asian scene so it [access to information] will have its own discourse in this domain," Ablan said in a news release on Tuesday. (PR) }