The Senate on Tuesday, Feb. 28, adopted a resolution seeking to establish an integrated digital legislative management system for the Congress to be known as eCongress.
Photo from Senate
Introduced by Senate president Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri and senators Loren Legarda, Joel Villanueva and Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, the chamber unanimously adopted Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 7 in a bid to improve, strengthen, and streamline communications between the Senate and the House of Representatives using digital technology.
The establishment of the eCongress system, according to the resolution, would enable both chambers of Congress to efficiently and effectively perform their essential functions of representation, legislation, and oversight.
“Advances in technology and greater interconnectivity present opportunities for both the Senate and the House of Representatives to update their intra and inter-chamber processes by adopting and utilizing secure digital systems and infrastructures and online platforms to further strengthen coordination between them and facilitate citizen engagement in the legislative process,” the concurrent resolution stated.
Legarda, in her sponsorship speech, underscored the need to have a digital infrastructure that would allow Congress to constantly collaborate, coordinate, communicate and share knowledge, resources and information.
She added that the eCongress would help address the challenge of making public governance more inclusive and encourage and strengthen people’s participation and empowerment.
“It is appropriate for Congress to invest resources to establish public digital infrastructure to articulate strategies and to integrate advances within the system of governance,” Legarda added.
For his part, Villanueva said the eCongress is in line with the government’s commitment to digitalize, harmonize and standardize government services and data in a bid to ensure efficient and fast delivery of services to the people.
He added that the need to digitalize the country’s governance systems and services was made obvious during the height of the pandemic as demand for connectivity and online availability of party services increased.
