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Website Review: Philippine Congress (http://www.congress.gov.ph and http://www.senate.gov.ph)

10Dec09

The first thing that is wrong here is that the House website propagates a popular but false notion of what Congress is all about. The Constitution declares Congress as a bicameral chamber composed of two co-equal houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate. So the use by the House of Representatives of the URL http://www.congress.gov.ph as its own is misleading. It will be better if http://www.congress.gov.ph will be used as a common site where the two houses can share space, and then have subdomains for the two houses, http://house.congress.gov.ph and http://senate.congress.gov.ph.

This brings me to another point. Congress should be a collegial body between two co-equal chambers. In most countries, bicameral legislatures are physically located in one area, if not in one building or compound. But here we have a legislature whose chambers are not only physically separated by some 20 kilometers, but they are also separated in cyberspace!

To remedy this anomaly – at least in cyberspace – the URL http://www.congress.gov.ph should be appropriated as the Congressional common site where the two houses can post the latest issues and news from their respective chambers, then just have subdomains to identify their respective houses.

What’s lacking?

For a branch of government that is supposed to be closer to the people on the assumption that its members are the people’s representatives, the Congressional websites lack the necessary information and resources to allow the people to know the topics and subject matters that their Congress is talking about, and the business their Congress is doing at any given time.

Congressional processes, committee hearings, plenary debates should be accessible to the public. But since physically being present in committee hearings and floor deliberations will be impractical for both members of Congress and the people, Congress should maximize the potential of the Web in bringing the institution closer to the people.

The Senate website is comparatively more useful than the House website. It could be more of a function of numbers, having fewer Senators than Representatives. But that can never be an excuse!

My main beef against the House website is the lack of access to texts of legislative measures. While the Senate posts scanned copies of legislative proposals as they are filed (with a lag of a few days), the House has its bills arranged from the first filed (in 2007) to the last, with merely the engrossed copies of the bills uploaded in their site. The rest are mere titles and short descriptions, if at all they are updated!

Case in point: As of this writing, the latest Senate Bill available in its website is S. No. 3553 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2009) by Senators Ejercito-Estrada, Legarda, Defensor Santiago, Villar, Roxas, Trillanes IV, Enrile, Lapid, Escudero, and Angara filed on 07 December 2009. In the House website, the latest House Bill available (after scrolling way down the frame) is H. No. 6958 (Mindanao Development Authority) by Rep. Romualdo (Lone District, Camiguin) filed on 26 Oct 2009.

There is also no agenda section or live feed section in either committee hearings or floor debates for both houses. Concerned citizens who want to understand the workings their Congress and its chambers, and to follow its businesses, will have a hard time looking for them in the Web.

Proposals

In general: In Web 2.0 and social media where content producers and audience interact, and the audience take possession of the brand, the Congressional site must keep up. Congress is the House of the People, as Speaker Prospero Nograles often says. So the people must have a stake on it.

1. Citizens must be allowed to participate in policymaking through direct proposal of bills, and the opportunity to comment on and introduce amendments to existing ones. Using wiki-based pages, Congress can introduce crowdsourcing for a robust public discourse to various legislative measures. Congress can open the bill for public discussion and amendments for a certain period, after which, the committee where the bill is referred to shall consider the publicly amended version together with the expert testimonies of resource persons.

2. Online petitions must be integrated to allow citizens another channel for redress of grievances (Phil Constitution, Article III, Section 4). This can be similar to the e-petitions instituted by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/.

At the Committee: Committee websites can be self-sustaining centers that can serve as one-stop shop for researchers, media persons, or ordinary citizens who want to know what their Congress is up to.

1. A complete and updated list of legislative measures being considered in the committee, with links to actual texts.

2. Committee members, linked to their individual homepages in the Congressional directory

3. A committee calendar with the daily agenda, as appropriate, including a list of invited resource persons for committee hearings, including downloadable statements and testimonies.

4. A downloads section where citizens can obtain copies of the highlights and summaries of committee hearings, if an actual transcript of stenographic notes is impracticable.

5. Podcasting/videocasting

On the Floor: Plenary debates are occasions for citizens to witness the grand manner by which Congress works. Thus, they should be given the necessary information to follow the debates taking place on the floor. In the website, there should be the session agenda, legislative measures being deliberated, voting results, and a podcasting/videocasting section.

Doing the people’s business

Congress operates under the presumption that since it is the people’s representatives, it is doing the people’s business. But if people do not know what business is being done there, how can we be ascertained that what they are doing are for our best interests?

Congressional operations demand so much changes and reforms to make Congress truly the people’s representatives. Its Web presence can be the starting point of this reform.

What does the Constitution say about martial law?

07Dec09

In Section 18, Article VII of the Constitution, the President, as commander in chief of the armed forces, can place the whole country or any part thereof under martial law, or suspend the writ of habeas corpus when there is an invasion or rebellion, when the public safety requires it.

This is a significant amendment from the 1935 Constitution, the one that President Ferdinand Marcos used to place the whole country under martial law in 1972. In the 1935 Constitution (Article VII, Section 10, Paragraph 2), even ‘imminent danger’ can be a reason for the valid declaration of martial law –

The President shall be commander-in-chief of all armed forces of the Philippines, and, whenever it becomes necessary, he may call out such armed forces to prevent or suppress lawless violence, invasion, insurrection, or rebellion. In case of invasion, insurrection, or rebellion or imminent danger thereof, when the public safety requires it, he may suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, or place the Philippines or any part thereof under Martial Law. (Emphasis mine)

The framers of the 1987 Constitution qualified the President’s martial law powers, effectively clipping it to avoid any repeat of the martial law experience under Marcos.

Any declaration of martial law or suspension of the writ of habeas corpus shall be valid for a period of 60 days, unless Congress decides either to revoke it or to extend it.

Duties of the President

(1) The President is duty-bound to submit a report to Congress in person or in writing within 48 hours after the proclamation of martial law or suspension of the writ.

Duties of Congress

(1) Within 24 hours of the proclamation or suspension, Congress shall convene without need of call.

(2) After the President submits a report within 48 hours of proclamation, Congress, voting jointly (meaning both the House of Representatives and the Senate sitting together), and by a majority vote of all its Members, may either approve or revoke the proclamation or suspension. In cases of revocation, the President cannot set this decision aside.

(3) If Congress approves the proclamation, and if the President requests for an extension, Congress will determine the period of extension.

Judicial oversight duties

(1) Any citizen may file an appropriate proceeding to the Supreme Court, questioning the sufficiency of the factual bases for the proclamation of martial law or the suspension of the writ of.

(2) The Supreme Court must promulgate a decision on such a question within three days from its filing.

In cases of martial law or the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, the following institutions remain in operation:

(1) The Constitution;

(2) Civil courts, legislative assemblies in all levels of government (national and local);

A declaration of martial law DOES NOT…

… confer jurisdiction on military courts and agencies over civilians where civil courts are able to function; and

… automatically suspend the privilege of writ of habeas corpus.

The suspension of the privilege of the writ shall apply only to persons judicially charged for rebellion or offenses inherent in, or directly connected with, invasion.

During the suspension of the privilege of the writ, any person thus arrested or detained shall be judicially charged within three days, otherwise he shall be released.