Congress to add more teeth to E-Commerce Bill

He gives out no-interest loans to his staff for buying computers. He regularly surfs the Internet, has his own Web site, and personally reads and responds to his e-mails. He even gives assignments to his people through e-mails and text messages.

This may be the reason why Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. was placed at the helm of discussions on the Electronic Commerce Bill.

Senate Bill 1902 or the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000 passed the Senate on first reading last April 12 and is now for second reading in the House of Representatives. However, not too many knew about it, until the ILOVEYOU computer virus wreaked havoc around the world early this month and the Philippines was placed in the spotlight as the alleged source of the virus attack.

Foreigners could not believe at first that Filipino authorities are incapable of arresting a suspect in the attack for lack of laws. But they all expressed satisfaction that the country will soon have a law to use against so-called "cybercriminals."

Authored by Senators Blas Ople, Juan Flavier and Vicente Sotto, the proposed measure was placed under Magsaysay since he is the chairman of the committees of trade and commerce and science and technology. In this interview, Magsaysay, who recently filed another bill on computer fraud and abuses, shares his insights on the pending law and e-commerce in general.

QUESTION: What is the E-Commerce Bill and how important is it to us Filipinos?

ANSWER: The E-Commerce Bill establishes the legal framework of doing business in the Internet and the World Wide Web. It allows the use of electronic documents that are generated in business transactions, whether they be B2B or business-to-business or B2C or business-to-consumer, as evidence in court. Our legal framework is based on the 1930s' law which requires written documents and real signatures to be submitted in court. But the bill answers all of those by including electronic signatures and other functional equivalents of written documents or those electronic documents as admissible in court. The bill also touches on security. One of its salient provisions is to mandate government agencies and departments to undertake their services through e-commerce. Example of this is our countrymen will no longer have to go to the Land Transportation Office to renew their driver's license. They can do it through the Internet and do not have to line up. They can also renew their passports in the same manner.

Q: Why did it take the Senate so long to pass the bill?

A: We began in May 1998 and we had long hearings. There were other more important bills that sidetracked us. Sen. (Franklin) Drilon was able to set time for the bill only in April last year and we had to conduct daily hearings for it. The bill was very complicated. Over 16 senators interpolated me and they were confused with the concept. Cyberspace is completely new to them. Sen. (Teofisto) Guingona even said that he would be happy if only he could understand half of the bill. They finally realized the importance of this bill which was based on the UNCITRAL law or the United Nations Commission on International Trade Laws of 1996. If the Lower House can pass the bill this June, we'll be the fifth country in Asia to have an e-commerce law. Singapore was the first, followed by Malaysia, Korea and Thailand. We'll be even ahead of the United States in enacting such a law. There, they have piecemeal laws in each state but they are still working on a law that would apply in all states.

Q: Was there any pressure from First World countries for us to enact such a law?

A: There was none. This is actually caused by globalization, the world trade. The Philippines being one of the 137 member-countries of the World Trade Organization, we have to keep pace with other countries so we won't be left behind. If we're not ready for electronic commerce, big ships will avoid us. Singapore is ready. They're already paper-less, cash-less. No more paper documents, no more too many requirements. If we don't do the same, we'll end up non-competitive.

Q: What's the main difference between the Senate and House versions of the bill?

A: Actually the House version came from the Senate and I believe eventually the two versions will harmonize, although I expect the House version to have stiffer penalties for hacking in the wake of the Love Bug attack. I heard one congressman proposed that instead of P100,000, the penalty should be raised to P1 million and the six years' imprisonment be made 10 years. They want to add more teeth to it.

Q: As a legislator, what lessons have you learned from the ILOVEYOU virus?

A: We should be aware that such things could happen. If we receive an e-mail from an unknown source, we should immediately trash it. As they say, prudence is the better part of valor. Huwag tayong magpaloko.

Q: The e-commerce bill penalizes hacking as a crime. But it doesn't touch on other cybercrimes like terrorism, pornography, infringement of copyrights, libel, etc. What can you say about this?

A: Purposely, the bill did not cover such crimes since they will be addressed by other laws. But admittedly, since the Internet is just like a highway, it is really impossible to police it. Those that pass through it can carry bombs or melons, and we wouldn't know it unless there is a gateway where all these things are inspected. But it's physically impossible to do it at this time. Some portals, however, are doing their share in policing the things that go to the Net through their facilities. I think this is already a good development and it seems the Internet will grow more if there are less regulations.

Q: Do you plan to impose new taxes on Internet transactions just like the controversial cellphone tax which was recently proposed in Congress?

A: Taxes will be collected, but these are not new taxes. These are already existing taxes, although they will be applied on different mediums. If you buy something, say from Amazon.com, the shipment will be taxed when it passes through Customs. Although there are transactions which you cannot tax like when you download something from the Internet for a fee. You pay through your credit card and nobody really knows that you made the transaction. But I assume that the company that provided you with a certain product or service has to pay tax to the government in the country where it is based. The US federal government, though, has said that for the next three years or so, they will not impose new taxes on Internet companies.

Q: Are Filipino law enforcers ready to enforce the e-commerce law?

A: They want to be ready. But I don't think they will ever be ready not because of their level of education and intelligence but because they lack the necessary training and the facilities. The NBI, I think, only has 10 computers for the whole bureau and I heard that seven of them are not working properly. We just have to put in more resources, especially in the NBI and the Department of Justice. But I think the government should look for private entities, for experts, to use as intellectual resource in trying to solve cybercrimes. They can hire these experts on case-to-case basis.

(Sen. Magsaysay's Web page is rmagsaysay.com and his e-mail address is [email protected].)

(Full text of the E-Commerce Bill is available under Technology Stories.)