(CNN PHILIPPINES) Senate Bill no. 2344, or the proposed Crowdsourcing in Legislative Policymaking Act, “seeks to broaden the reach of the Congress in considering the inputs, suggestions, recommendations, and objections of the people on a particular legislative proposal,” its author Senator Jinggoy Estrada said in the explanatory note.
The participation of the public will be done through the internet or telecommunications platforms, he said.
Estrada said the proposed measure will help lawmakers prioritize urgent issues, solicit ways on how to solve them, and gather feedback on the implemented solutions and policies.
Under the bill, secretariats of both the Senate and House of Representatives shall post a copy of a proposed measure on their websites. Except for bills certified as urgent by the president, citizens will have 15 working days to submit their comments upon referral of the bill on first reading.
The comments shall be part of committee deliberations, the bill read.
On second reading, the public will have three working days to comment upon submission of a committee report.
After being approved on third reading, the public will again have three working days to comment which will be reviewed by the concerned panel at the Conference Committee level.
When crowdsourcing through the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office, its website will be used as a platform where the people can start a petition to review, amend, and repeal a law or create a bill. The result will be transmitted to both houses of Congress for appropriate action.
Those who would like to start a campaign or petition to review, amend and repeal a law or create a bill, “shall register online, consistent with the provisions of Republic Act No. 10173, otherwise known as the “Data Privacy Act of 2012” and other applicable laws,” the bill read.
It also calls for a feedback mechanism to enable lawmakers to understand public sentiments.
Six years after the bill’s implementation, “Congress shall review and recommend amendments to this Act to attune it to the developments in technology, and to determine if the same can be implemented in provinces and highly urbanized cities that have adopted telecommunications and information technology convergence,” the bill read.