Public FOI Requests in the Philippines: Transparency at the Expense of Privacy?

Freedom of Information (FOI) initiatives are vital for democratic transparency, but in the Philippines, the implementation of public FOI portals has raised critical privacy concerns. This paper examines the Philippine eFOI portal, a government-run platform that publishes FOI requests and agency responses online, often revealing users’ personal information. Using a dataset of over 235,000 FOI requests between 2016 and 2024, along with Presidio, an open-source personal information analyzer, the study identifies widespread inclusion of personal and sensitive personal information despite existing privacy advisories. Analysis reveals that 44% of requests contained personal information, and 0.66% included sensitive identifiers, with agencies like OWWA and SSS having disproportionately high exposure rates. This trend is particularly acute during crisis periods like the COVID-19 pandemic, when citizens used FOI as a substitute for service portals. Results highlight systemic design flaws in the portal, user misunderstanding of FOI scope, and the absence of adequate redaction protocols. Drawing on international examples from the US, UK, and Australia, the paper argues for integrating automated de-identification tools with community oversight to promote responsible transparency. It concludes by advocating for a comprehensive FOI law in the Philippines that ensures legal safeguards, institutional accountability, and privacy protection without undermining openness.