As the most cautious of us would say, “always put everything in writing.” This is sound advice for anyone who is going into business with a friend, lending money, or even someone discussing details with wedding suppliers. To illustrate, my cousin’s wife told me she had the shock of her life when after painstakingly describing her dream wedding cake in a dark metallic shade with swirls, intricate patterns and silver balls, she ended up having a plain black fondant cake. Horror of horrors, none of their agreements were in writing. The good faith explanation would be that her cake-maker may have had amnesia or simply didn’t understand what they were talking about that whole afternoon they spent discussing it. But more probably, she knew that oral agreements are rather difficult to prove. That is the beauty of having a signed conforme, receipt or agreement. It gives you peace of mind and provides a remedy when people ever-so-conveniently forget their commitments.
In the age of Blackberrys and all other digital devices, I still prefer the trusty pen and paper. While transactions through text messages, and e-mail correspondence may be viewed with some skepticism, handwritten letters and hard copies of signed documents seem to have the feel of legitimacy despite the fact that these, too, can be forged. Although the Electronic Commerce Act (Republic Act 8792) already tells us that electronic documents shall have the same legal status as that of written documents, the skeptic in most of us would really much rather hang onto our bulky files. Save for e-mail, I have not seen much application of this law where I used to work and even in the government agency where I used to be an intern in. I really don’t know if it’s a fear of change, a general distrust in our law or simply the public's lack of knowledge or understanding of it that keeps us from adopting the E-Commerce act for all its worth. It makes me wonder then, what was this law created for when it seems that all of us still want to accumulate piles upon piles of files in our basements?
In the age of Blackberrys and all other digital devices, I still prefer the trusty pen and paper. While transactions through text messages, and e-mail correspondence may be viewed with some skepticism, handwritten letters and hard copies of signed documents seem to have the feel of legitimacy despite the fact that these, too, can be forged. Although the Electronic Commerce Act (Republic Act 8792) already tells us that electronic documents shall have the same legal status as that of written documents, the skeptic in most of us would really much rather hang onto our bulky files. Save for e-mail, I have not seen much application of this law where I used to work and even in the government agency where I used to be an intern in. I really don’t know if it’s a fear of change, a general distrust in our law or simply the public's lack of knowledge or understanding of it that keeps us from adopting the E-Commerce act for all its worth. It makes me wonder then, what was this law created for when it seems that all of us still want to accumulate piles upon piles of files in our basements?
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