Senate urged to end 'antiquated' way of filing bills

Senator Pia Cayetano urged the Senate to change its "antiquated" way of filing bills, which allegedly encourages plagiarism and unnecessary competition among the chamber staff. Cayetano explained that the Senate's system of naming similar bills after the senator who was the first to file the proposal allegedly instigated the practice of copying old proposals and passing them off as their own. She refused, however, to name senators who have allegedly been "plagiarizing" old bills. According to Cayetano, the practice also forces the senators' staff members to wait painstakingly for the opening of the filing of bills so that theirs would be the first to be indexed. “I hope the Senate would have a clearer regulation on the system of filing bills. Senators should specify the original authors, even just on the explanatory note," she said in Filipino. She likewise asked the Senate to "modernize" its system of indexing bills by making electronic copies of the said documents. "Mas praktikal ito at makakatulong pa tayo sa kalikasan (This is more practical and will help the environment)," she said. The solution Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente "Tito" Sotto explained that it is tradition for the senator who was first to file a bill with similar counterparts to become the principal author. "Usually nag-aagawaan talaga yan (Usually they really fight over the right to become the principal author)," he told reporters after the meeting of the Senate committee rules on Monday. Senate secretary Emma Reyes admitted during the meeting that even though no senator had earlier publicly questioned this tradition, there had reportedly been several internal arguments about the matter. Sotto, however, said they will no longer name similar bills after the senator who was first to file the proposal. Instead, he said they will leave it to standing committees to decide who will become the principal author. "We leave it to committee kasi sila ang nakakaalam... kaninong parte ng mga batas ang mas malaking ginamit (because they would know who wrote a bigger part of the law)," he said. Sotto said he hopes this move by the Senate committee on rules will resolve the issue. "Kahit sino mauna walang problema. Kung sino talaga ang may laman, yun ang magiging principal author (Now it won't matter who files first. Whoever contributed most to the bill will become the principal author)," he said. According to the Senate Legislative Bills and Index Service Department, 2,355 bills and 67 resolutions have been filed by the senators of the 15th Congress. The Senate standing committees are expected to conduct hearings on the bills filed by the senators. If the bill is passed up to the third reading, it is referred to the House of Representatives for concurrence. If the House approves the bill, the reconciled version of the bill is submitted to Malacanang for signing by the President. –VVP, GMANews.TV