Senate rules online since 96

MANILA, Philippines – If Malacañang and the Supreme Court want to see the Senate’s rules on the conduct of inquiries, the rules have been out and accessible to the public all along – on the Internet.

Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. said yesterday the posting of the Senate Rules of Procedure on the Internet in 2001 was a valid publication in accordance with Republic Act 8792, or the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000.

“The publication of the Senate rules on the Senate website is under the coverage of the E-Commerce Act of 2000, which provides that electronic documents shall have the legal effect, validity or enforceability as any other document or legal writing and they are likewise admissible (as) evidence in any legal proceedings,” he said.

Disputing a Supreme Court decision that the Senate rules have not been published, Villar said aside from the regular newspaper publications in 1992, 1995 and 2006, the rules have also been posted on the Internet since 1996 and in the Senate website since 2001.

“The Internet is an effective mechanism of communication and information dissemination. Certainly, this is one of the greatest inventions of this generation,” he said.

Speaking en route to Capetown, South Africa for the 118th Inter-Parliamentary Union, Villar said in its motion for reconsideration for the SC to reverse its decision upholding the claim of executive privilege of Commission on Higher Education Chairman Romulo Neri, the Senate presented the significant role of information technology in policy making.

“The MR the Senate filed with the Supreme Court is not simply a pleading of legal arguments to examine the danger and crippling precedent of the Neri decision, it also presents an imprimatur on the great leaps and bounds of the Internet as a tool in legislation,” he said.

Villar said the Senate has given four reasons why the Internet helps in effective legislation: 

• The Internet could better perform the function of communicating the laws to the people;

• It is more easily available; 

• It has a wider subscriber or readership; and

• It can be read or accessed anytime of the day and night.

The fresh approach of the motion for reconsideration encourages implementation of RA 8792, he added.

Villar said if not corrected, the Neri decision may turn executive privilege into a “license” to commit crime.

“If we allow it to become final, we shall have a democracy of kept secrets and that when secrecy is invoked amid accusation of corruption, it is nothing but a tool for a criminal cover-up,” he said.

The SC justices should seriously reconsider the Neri decision by looking at the way it will work to the detriment of the campaign against graft and corruption and the principle of transparency and accountability, Villar said.

In a 105-page motion for reconsideration, the Senate asked the SC to carefully re-examine the facts, and by applying the proper laws and jurisprudence hopefully arrive at a “more circumspect” decision.