Philippines' legislative documents to be made public on the internet

About the news:
House of Representatives, lead by Rep. Narciso Santiago III, are filing House Bill 6125 which will make legislative documents more accessible to the public by making them available on the internet. In the end, internet users will be able to search, view, and download such documents.

Santiago said, "We should make use of this technology and empower our citizens by providing them access to information on-demand and allow them to voice their opinion in a timelier manner."

I assume that means that the mandated websites would include forums or whatever other comments system they decide on having. I just hope it's not a chatroom. They can have that to if they want, but they should put it on a different page so the adults can talk sensibly in the forums while the kids flirt their asses of in the chatrooms.

"Legislation should be a transparent process to allow our stakeholders, citizens and group alike to participate in the process and make sure that the laws we enact are truly reflective of the will of our constituents," Santiago added. FTW!!!!!!1

I honestly hope that this is not simply for show. I seldom see government pages on the internet with dead slow speed. If it were physically running on its hypothetical hind legs, it would be as fast as the speed of fart. Have you seen Pag-IBIG website? Then try downloading the forms for more fun :)

What are legislative documents?
Before we get carried away, let's first determine what legislative documents are. Legislative documents are basically bills. These contains our laws or are documents that are being passed as laws.

So we're basically being given access to all laws that have been passed, made, (supposedly) enforced and also to the future bills that will be submitted for approval. But the first part of that list is already available online through the Philippine Congress website. Where you can search whatever bills in existence you had in mind. I just think they should have a better strategy on this - why do we have to specify WHICH Congress (currently the 14th) passed such bill? Oh wait... I think that's because only Bills and Resolutions by the 13th and 14th Congress are available on that site (Found out about that when I got a mySQL error searching for a random bill in the 8th Congress).

How does this affect us?
Bills are what the law making body already passed. Before they are passed, they are called Resolutions and they are "in motion", meaning they are suggestions for new bills/laws. Which one do they make available? The Bills. I stress.

That means we get to rant and rave online and make it visible for the President's hired IT team to review all such feedback before she either signs it or denies it. I do believe that this is an improvement in the Congress' attempt for Good Governance - this particular change would fall under Transparency. Good job guys! Keep taking those baby steps and you'll see, we might just start liking you.

Personal suggestions:

1. As previously mentioned: comments on every bill passed/approved and proposed.
2. Simple polls for each bill that would have several choices: [Approve], [More Info Needed], [Changes Needed], [Disapprove], [YOU SUCK, YOU FILTHY RICH BASTARD!], [Go Kill Yourself] Or something resembling that.
3. To have all existing documents be available online as well. Don't tell me you actually have to hire new people for this. That's just making things up to make your full pockets thicker. I know for a fact that there are many government owned institutions that pay their employees five (5) working days but they actually only come in four days a week. And that they have two (2) hours of lunch break. And that they have free snacks in the afternoon.
4. A NEW BILL: You want REAL transparency? Suggest something that would matter: What about making the National Budget available to public scrutiny? Where every cent goes? Then THAT WAY we'll even have ACCOUNTABILITY somewhat covered. You don't have to do all the work, of course. Once you've noted that such certain amount has been provided to such department then THAT department will have to take care of its own reports, THAT city will have to show its reports, THAT governor won't be getting a new Range Rover from the tax payer's money, THAT mayor won't be buying his kids signature clothes or fast food franchises because we know their *registered* salaries can't afford THAT much.
   

How much would the system cost them?
I know for a fact that multiply allows you to post unlimited pictures and unlimited albums and going PRO is not that expensive. That shows that there are available free/cheap services online that they can utilize and they won't have to draft a stupidly large numbered proposal budget for this. And include the fact that they are already have an existing website, then they don't have to start from scratch. Still thinking about creating a new website for this? Tie up with a university and ask if a team would be willing to take it up as their thesis. YOU GET IT DONE FOR FREE!

Oh I did Google "define: Congress" and got a bit disturbed on the fourth search result:
Definitions of congress on the Web:

• the legislature of the United States government
• a meeting of elected or appointed representatives
• a national legislative assembly
• sexual intercourse: the act of sexual procreation between a man and a woman; the man's penis is inserted into the woman's vagina and excited until orgasm and ejaculation occur

Original News article here.