ICT Legislation

I work at the House of Representatives as a Staff Officer in the Secretariat; and, I must say that for a working student in his mid-20's, it does get a bit disappointing. The lot of legislative employees is what one might call an aging community. Most of the people working at the House have been here since the Batasan days, even before 1987 (and, yes, this list includes most of the House members). As such, it comes as no surprise to me that ICT legislation proceeds at such a snail's pace.

Whenever I see a bill being drafted creating stricter rules for plumbers' associations; when I hear of resolutions pushing for charter change; or when I get hold of news that another investigation is being conducted on the Katrina Halili scandal, my heart sinks. Yes, these matters are of (some) importance in today's society; but what about the need for laws governing hacking, password protection, technological upgrading of government agencies, e-sales, and the like? How do we promote free and open source software (FOSS), and prevent the increase in the number of spammers and virus authors?

I guess for the moment, all these topics have to be left on the wayside, since most of our people in Congress don't really give a damn (or because they don't even know these problems exist). How could they, when most of them don't even know the intricacies of using a personal computer?

Our only hope lies in the younger population of both Houses of Congress, mostly composed of rank and file staff. They need to speak up and inform their "bosses" of this much needed ICT legislation. They have to start drafting bills which will neccessarily use elaborate computer jargon. They have to do the research and compare our laws to those of other countries.

It is possible to do this. What will be difficult is getting thru the thick skulls of narrow-minded, self-driven politicians. But that's a bigger problem altogether.