TOWARDS A CENTER FOR INFORMATION FOR ASEAN LAW by Atty. Maria Theresa G. Libunao Vice-President, CD Technologies Asia, Inc. Introduction The legal system of a country reflects its political, economic and social norms. In the age of globalization, 1 countries can no longer exist and operate in a vacuum, nor can it limit or confine its citizenry to its borders. With countries having expanded cooperation and economic interactions, it is important to have access to its laws which serve as guideposts in the conduct of these relations. The ASEAN Law Association (ALA) published the “ASEAN Legal Systems” series in 1999. It provided in detail the different legal frameworks and sources of law in the ASEAN member countries. Since its publication, there have been changes and more law-related information coming from the ASEAN member countries. Given the ASEAN’s commitment to have greater connectivity among its members, it is important to have greater and better access to the laws of each country. Therefore, there is the need to establish a center for information for ASEAN law. An information center is defined as a “center designed specifically for storing, processing, and retrieving information for dissemination at regular intervals, on demand or selectively, according to express needs of users.” 2 Simply, it is “a place where you can get information or advice about a particular subject.” 3 Traditionally, access to the law has been through law libraries and other print-bound publications. Today, law-related information is available and accessible through the electronic media. Indeed, any discussion on the establishment of an information center for law must be done in the context of technological developments which happen almost daily. Monumental strides in information technology have made possible the development of electronic law libraries or legal information systems. From the beginnings of computerized legal databases to the present, access and availability of law libraries and law-related compilations have been thoroughly changed by computer technology. It has been observed that “[l]aw now arises, evolves, and is practiced and applied through an electronic medium. From top to bottom, the law proceeds through electronic channels.” 4 This paper is premised on the creation of an electronic information center for ASEAN law. This is not meant to disregard the importance of traditional law libraries. Rather, the concept of a digital center is offered as a practical solution to the challenges and problems present in the exchange of print-bound 1 The term is defined as “the worldwide movement toward economic, financial, trade and communications integration.” http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/globalization.html 2 McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6 th Edition 2003 http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/information+center (December 27, 2011) 3 http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/information-center (December 27, 2011) 4 Katrina Fischer Kuh, Electronically Manufactured Law, Volume 22 Number 1, Fall 2008, Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, page 224 at http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/articles/pdf/v22/22HarvJLTech223.pdf (December 11, 2011).
Transcript
TOWARDS A CENTER FOR INFORMATION FOR ASEAN LAW by Atty. Maria Theresa G. Libunao
Vice-President, CD Technologies Asia, Inc. Introduction The legal system of a country reflects its political, economic and social norms. In the age of
globalization,1 countries can no longer exist and operate in a vacuum, nor can it limit or confine its
citizenry to its borders. With countries having expanded cooperation and economic interactions, it is
important to have access to its laws which serve as guideposts in the conduct of these relations.
The ASEAN Law Association (ALA) published the “ASEAN Legal Systems” series in 1999. It provided in
detail the different legal frameworks and sources of law in the ASEAN member countries. Since its
publication, there have been changes and more law-related information coming from the ASEAN
member countries. Given the ASEAN’s commitment to have greater connectivity among its members, it
is important to have greater and better access to the laws of each country. Therefore, there is the need
to establish a center for information for ASEAN law.
An information center is defined as a “center designed specifically for storing, processing, and retrieving
information for dissemination at regular intervals, on demand or selectively, according to express needs
of users.”2 Simply, it is “a place where you can get information or advice about a particular subject.”3
Traditionally, access to the law has been through law libraries and other print-bound publications.
Today, law-related information is available and accessible through the electronic media. Indeed, any
discussion on the establishment of an information center for law must be done in the context of
technological developments which happen almost daily. Monumental strides in information technology
have made possible the development of electronic law libraries or legal information systems. From the
beginnings of computerized legal databases to the present, access and availability of law libraries and
law-related compilations have been thoroughly changed by computer technology. It has been observed
that “[l]aw now arises, evolves, and is practiced and applied through an electronic medium. From top to
bottom, the law proceeds through electronic channels.”4
This paper is premised on the creation of an electronic information center for ASEAN law. This is not
meant to disregard the importance of traditional law libraries. Rather, the concept of a digital center is
offered as a practical solution to the challenges and problems present in the exchange of print-bound
1The term is defined as “the worldwide movement toward economic, financial, trade and communications integration.” http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/globalization.html 2 McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6th Edition 2003 http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/information+center (December 27, 2011) 3 http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/american/information-center (December 27, 2011) 4 Katrina Fischer Kuh, Electronically Manufactured Law, Volume 22 Number 1, Fall 2008, Harvard Journal of Law
and Technology, page 224 at http://jolt.law.harvard.edu/articles/pdf/v22/22HarvJLTech223.pdf (December 11, 2011).
information across the ASEAN member countries. It begins with a look at how information technology
has been used in the development of electronic legal databases in the Philippines. It will detail the
experience in this jurisdiction to illustrate the concerns which attended such development and the
practical considerations that determined specific courses of action.
II. Legal Information Systems: A Convergence of Law and Technology The use of technology for retrieval of legal information began in the 1960s. The following is a brief
account of the early beginnings of computerized legal databases5:
The problem of dealing with an unwieldy collection of legal tomes was particularly noted in the early 1960s by the legal profession in the United States. As a result, the concept of using computers to manage the information was raised in a number of forums. In the beginning, no substantial advancements were made, but after Professor John Horty’s work at the University of Pittsburgh converting statutes to machine readable form became widely known, the feasibility of such a concept was finally realised. His work with the KWIC (Key Words in Combination) search system and text retrieval methods led to the development in 1963 of the US Air Force computerised legal information program FLITE. This database was almost certainly the largest collection of machine readable legal sources in existence at the time. It was considered to be the earliest CALR program in the United States….6
Further:
Sensitive to the increasing burden placed on legal researchers, in the mid-1960s the Ohio State Bar Association formed a group to explore whether the aid of computers could be enlisted. In their search for an appropriate system, the Ohio group became aware of one developed by the Data Corporation to help the Air Force manage its huge files of procurement contracts. The Ohio attorneys reached an agreement with Data Corporation to cooperate in an effort to modify that system to suit the needs of legal research. Initially the project met with mixed success. Then, in 1969, Data Corporation was acquired by Mead Corporation. They soon formed a new subsidiary, Mead Data Central, devoted exclusively to developing the legal research service. Numerous improvements were made, and in early 1973 the service, sporting the new name LEXIS, was introduced for nationwide marketing. 7
From the start, the underlying principle in the development of the electronic legal information systems
was the need to have an efficient and effective way to store and retrieve legal information. Law
5 It is believed that the earliest mention of the creation of an automatic system to retrieve legal information was by Lewis O. Keslo in his paper entitled, “Does law need a technical revolution?” published in the Rocky Mountain Law Review in 1946. The first known legal information system was developed in 1968 by the Automated Law System (later renamed the Aspen Systems Corporation). Jon Bing (ed.), Brief History of Computerized Legal Information Retrieval, Handbook of Legal Information Retrieval, pp. 255-260, http://www.lovdata.no/litt/hand/hand-1991-3.html (December 13, 2011). 6 Kayleen Wardell, From Caveman to Casebase: The Evolution of Legal Research Through the Technological Age, http://www.alla.asn.au/conference/2009/papers/KayleenWardell.docx (December 28, 2011) 7 F. Allan Hanson, From Key Numbers to Key Words: How Automation Has Transformed The Law, Vol. 94, Number 4, Law Library
Journal p. 564 at http://www.aallnet.org/main-menu/Publications/llj/LLJ-Archives/Vol-94/pub_llj_v94n04/2002-36.pdf (December 13, 2011).
libraries, with its varied collection of materials, were ripe for the application of a system that would
allow a comprehensive, efficient and fast way of putting together research results useful for one’s
purpose. Throughout the 1970s to the present, the nature8 of electronic law libraries and the means by
which these are accessed and published have changed significantly. The invention of microchips and
personal computers9 has also facilitated the way law-related information is researched and used.
The development of any future legal information system is invariably linked to technology. While there
are arguments for and against this premise,10 it is a reality that must be contended with and considered
by the developer of any law-related compilation. Even the Philippine Supreme Court had occasion to
observe the following:
“xxx In the old days, the common practice was that … the researcher would source his materials mostly from available law books and published articles on print. When he found a relevant item in a book, whether for one side of the issue or for the other, he would place a strip of paper marker on the appropriate page, pencil mark the item, and place the book on his desk where other relevant books would have piled up. He would later paraphrase or copy the marked out passages from some of these books as he typed his manuscript on a manual typewriter. . . . With the advent of computers, however . . . most legal references, including the collection of decisions of the Court, are found in electronic diskettes or in internet websites that offer virtual libraries of books and articles. xxx”11
A. Philippine Legal Framework The development of electronic legal information systems in the Philippines must be contextualized in
terms of existing legislation and available technology during its inception.
Under the Philippine legal system,12 the primary sources of law are the statutes or statutory law and
jurisprudence or case law.13 The primary sources are “recorded authoritative statements of legal rules
8 The early versions of Lexis and Westlaw only contained judicial decisions. These publishers later on made available non-judicial materials like legislation and administrative materials. Robert C. Berring, Collapse of The Structure of The Legal Research Universe: The Imperative of Digital Information, 69 Wash. L. Rev. 9, p.11, at Lexis.com (December 26, 2011) 9 Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs released the Apple I in 1976 while IBM introduced its first PC in 1981 using Microsoft’s MS -DOS
operating system. http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1981 10 Paul Hellyer, Assessing the Influence of Computer-Assisted Legal Research: A Study of California Supreme Court Opinions, http://www.aallnet.org/products/pub-llj-v97n02/2005-16.pdf, (2005), November 3, 2010. 11
In the Matter of the Charges of Plagiarism, etc., against Associate Justice Mariano C. Del Castillo, A.M. No. 10-7-17-SC, October 12, 2010, Lex Libris Jurisprudence. 12 A comprehensive discussion of the Philippine legal system is found in the ASEAN official website at “Legal Systems in ASEAN,” http://www.aseanlawassociation.org/legal-phil.html (December 13, 2011) 13 Milagros Santos-Ong, Legal System of the Philippines, Chapter 4, Philippine Legal Research and Bibliography 48 (2nd Edition, Central Book Supply, 2009)
Philippine law provides for the right of the people to information and access to government
documents.19 It further provides that the issuances should be published in the Official Gazette20 or in a
newspaper of general circulation21 to be effective. Section 24 of the Philippine Administrative Code
provides that “[t]he publication of any law, resolution or other official documents in the Official Gazette
shall be prima facie evidence of its authority.”22 The University of the Philippines Law Center, through
the Office of the National Administrative Register, is mandated to “publish a quarterly bulletin setting
forth the text of rules filed … during the preceding quarter.”23 The aforementioned laws provide that the
public should have access to government issuances and that the same must be published for it to take
effect. There is no indication as to how records-keeping should be done in these offices.
14 Myrna S. Feliciano, The Law Library: Revisiting Traditional Legal Research Methods, IBP Journal Vol 34 No. 1 173 (March 2009) 15 Ibid. 16 The principle is defined as “to adhere to precedents, and not to unsettle things which are established,” Black’s Law Dictionary, as cited in Confederation of Sugar Producers Association, Inc. (CONFED), et al. vs. Department of Agrarian Reform of Agrarian Reform (DAR), G.R. No. 169514, March 30, 2007, Lexicon of Philippine Legal Terms (2010). 17 Some of the departments under the Executive are Agriculture, Agrarian Reform, Budget and Management, Education, Energy, Environment and Natural Resources, Finance, Health, Interior and Local Government, Justice, Labor and Employment, Public Works and Highways, Science and Technology, Social Welfare and Development, Tourism, Trade and Industry, and Transportation and Communications. 18 Table of Contents, Philippine Taxation Encyclopedia, CD Asia (2010). 19 Const. (1987), Art. III, Sec. 7. 20 Com. Act No. 638 (1941), sec. 1. Also, Exec. Order No. 292 (1987), hereinafter cited as Admin. Code of 1987, Book I, Chapter 6, sec. 24. 21
Admin. Code of 1987, Book 1, Chapter 5, sec. 18. 22 Ibid. 23 Admin. Code of 1987, Book VII, Chapter 2, sec. 5.
The volume of Philippine legal materials grows through the years. To illustrate this, there are currently24
10,153 Republic Acts from the Philippine Legislature. This count does not include the Mga Batas
Pambansa, Commonwealth Acts and Acts from previous legislative congresses. For case law, there are
approximately 60,000 Philippine Supreme Court cases from 1901 to 2011.
Given the hierarchy of laws and the principle of citing mandatory authorities, as well as the volume of
Philippine law materials, there is a need for a systematic and efficient method of researching and
locating applicable precepts of the law.
B. The Development of Philippine Electronic Legal Information Systems
The start of electronic law libraries in the Philippines can be traced to the late 1980s with the
establishment of Juris et Legis25 by a group headed by the late Justice Federico Moreno and Mr. Luis B.
Reyes.26 The company converted decisions of the Supreme Court, from 1901 to 1991, into electronic
format by means of manual encoding, and stored the database into a mini computer. Juris et Legis was a
research service for legal professionals. A client would submit a query and the researchers supplied the
summarized results to answer the client's question. The research results were printed out and delivered
in hard copy format to the client. The concern with such service was that client had no control over the
tenor of the research, and was never certain that the researcher covered all aspects of the research
query and not missed out on an important point.
Another company, the Iris Databank Legal Research System27, used diskettes to store the information
which was eventually transferred to the user’s hard disk. The system used the indexing method for legal
research and created case digests of the Supreme Court decisions. It contained an alphabetical
arrangement of topics under general subject heading. Through the index, the researcher can view the
provisions of laws and digests of cases with citations. It had modules on Labor Law, Taxation,
Corporation Law and Civil Procedure. Iris Databank eventually transferred its information to CD-ROM,
but the company stopped the development of its database shortly thereafter.
The above described systems attempted to provide easy access to the law. But JeL was limited to case
law and a limited number of legislation, using a mini computer operated and accessed by a select few,
while Iris Databank provided digests and not the complete text. The case digests might be done from a
different perspective than needed by the researcher. The law was not yet in the hands of the legal
practitioner and he has no control over the conduct of his research.
In 1992, Gigabytes Research Systems, Inc. (GRSI) released volume one of PhilJuris, a two-CD compilation
of the full text of Supreme Court decisions. The production process started in 1990 with the conversion
24 As of this paper’s writing. 25
The company ceased operations in 1995 when it was bought by CD Asia. 26 President, Reyes Publishing House. 27 The original proprietor was Mr. Lauro G. Gamboa.
of Philippine Supreme Court decisions into electronic or digital files. The compilation was programmed
with Amicus software28 as its search engine and used key words and phrases for finding specific
decisions. Other features of the system are pop-up menus and icons, multiple windows, copy and paste,
and file print. The second volume was released in 1993, and the title eventually carried selected
legislative issuances.
However, GRSI was not able to develop other law-related titles. The company was sold to a private
developer which changed the company’s name to PhilJuris, Inc. Its management eventually turned-over
the database to an educational institution for its use.
Around early 1994, a group of young professionals formed CD Technologies Asia, Inc. or CD Asia. As the
members of the founding core group were legally trained, they wanted to use the available technology
to develop more electronic law libraries. Recognizing the need for a single electronic repository of
administrative, executive and legislative issuances, CD Asia released its first title, Laws Philippine
Edition, in November 2004. The release signalled the beginning of the Lex Libris series, which means
“law library”. The series is considered as the most comprehensive and up-to-date source of law-related
materials on optical media.29
In 1997, CD Asia acquired the Juris et Legis database of Supreme Court decisions and further developed
the same. Jurisprudence, compilation of Philippine Supreme Court decisions, was released by CD Asia in
July 1997.
The company recognized that administrative issuances and departmental issuances of the government
are also important for a comprehensive research of law materials. Thus, it published the following titles:
Taxation Philippine Edition, Department of Justice (Opinions of the Secretary), Local Autonomy and
Local Government, Environment and Natural Resources, Labor and Social Legislation, Elections, Trade,
Commerce and Industry, Securities and Exchange Commission and Family Law (now renamed Persons
and Family Relations). These titles contain issuances of government agencies on specific topics and
form the Philippine Law Library product line of CD Asia.
Aside from the The Philippine Law Library, CD Asia has produced other titles in coordination with
various governmental and non-governmental institutions. These are the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,
Bureau of Internal Revenue Legal Information System, Compendium of Philippine Customs Laws and
Regulations, and Department of Agrarian Reform Legal Information System. Together with the UP Law
Center, CD Asia has published the Proceedings of the Constitutional Commission and the Impeachment
Proceedings Against President Joseph Estrada. It also publishes the National Administrative Register.
The latest title in this product line is the Government Procurement Policy Board.
28
A variation of the Microsoft Viewer. 29
Santos-Ong, Philippine Legal Research, p. 145.
The process of creating Philippine electronic law libraries has been an arduous process.30 First, actual
copies of the law were in print format which had to be digitized either through scanning or manual
encoding. Second, the materials were stored in different repositories. While the Supreme Court
decisions were published in known compilations, the issuances of the Executive and Legislative branches
of government had to be sourced from different libraries. It must be said while the law materials are
part of the public domain, some librarians guarded their materials fiercely and were not willing to share
the same. Others were only too happy to share their copies in exchange for a digitized compilation.
There was also the question of what media to use in storing the information. By this time, electronic
legal information has been stored in mini computers, diskettes, online and CD-ROM.31 Mini computers
were not even considered as the company wanted the legal researcher to “take the law into their own
hands”. Diskettes, although the most commonly used medium, were highly susceptible to viruses and
could only contain limited amount of information. Online libraries on the Internet have also been
developed in other jurisdictions, but the Philippines’ telecommunications infrastructure was in its
infancy in the early 1990s.32 The remaining medium left was the CD-ROM which and this was used by CD
Asia in the development, programming and publication of its various electronic legal databases.33 The
media was chosen as it is a more stable repository of legal information.
In selecting CD-ROM ROM as the publishing medium, CD Asia also took into consideration its intended
users – law practitioners, law librarians and legal researchers – who were used to books. The idea of
storing hundreds of thousands of pages into a couple of CD-ROMs was revolutionary enough for a
relatively conservative market that was used to reading through volumes of books to get the desired
research results. Even law librarians had to be convinced that one can find information quickly without
the help of their beloved indices. The more conservative segment of the market also wanted a tangible,
physical item to hold their law libraries; online libraries were too nebulous a concept for them.
After the medium of publication was decided on, CD Asia turned its attention to the software with which
to program its electronic legal databases. In choosing the search and retrieval program for its titles, CD
Asia studied the problems in the previous ELIS and came out with a design to better present law-related
information. For example, the original PhilJuris compilation, while allowing for full-text searches, did not
30 The author was the production manager of GRSI (1992 to 1993) and CD Asia (1994 to 1997). The account is based on first-hand experience. 31 The CD-ROM as a storage medium was developed in 1983 when Sony and Philips jointly released the Yellow Book CD-ROM standard which turned the audio CD into a medium that could store data for use with a computer. A Brief History of the CD, http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/A-Brief-History-of-CD/ 32 The Internet in the Philippines began in March 1995 when the Philippine Network Foundation (PHNet) enabled
the country to be connected to Sprint in the United States through a 64 kbps link. This was considered as the country’s only public gateway to the Internet. (Jeanne Austin, History of Internet in the Philippines (2007) at http://www.helium.com/items/408716-the-history-of-the-internet-in-the-philippines (December 28, 2011) 33 CD-ROM publishing was considered as a “seismic event” which provided a legal information retrieval system directly to the technologically savvy lawyer’s desktop. Graham Greenleaf, Jon Bing and the History of Computerised Legal Research – Some Missing Links,” http://www2.austlii.edu.au/~graham/publications/2004/Greenleaf_Bing_ book.pdf (December 28, 2011)
allow for exact phrase searching or “proximity searches”34. As technology developed, more features and
functionalities were programmed into the electronic compilation. Mindful of how legal research is done
and armed with a working knowledge of the basic structure of the law, the search software35 used were
programmed to allow searching not only by keywords but also through specific structure of the law. For
example, a Philippine Supreme Court decision is usually searched by short title, general registry number
(G.R. No.), date or by the writer of the decision (ponente). The Jurisprudence query template allows
searching through these specific parameters, as well as the regular full-text searching through the entire
infobase or just through the syllabi. On the other hand, the Laws query template allows searching by
title, number of issuance, date, words and phrases.
Recognizing the need to add value on the primary material, CD Asia partnered up with Accesslaw, Inc. to
create the first ever electronic Philippine Legal Encyclopedia Series. The first two volumes are Philippine
Laws Encyclopedia which is the most comprehensive compilation of Philippine laws and statutes on
DVD-ROM, with up-to-date analyses, annotations of over 5,000 laws and statutes, a subject index, case
doctrines, and the original and “living” version of the laws and statutes, with hyperlinking of related
issuances for greater ease of use, and Philippine Taxation Encyclopedia which is the complete collection
of taxation-related jurisprudence, statutes, laws, and administrative issuances, with a section-by-section
cross-referencing, analysis and annotation of the National Internal Revenue Code, with the widest
coverage of issuances of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, local and international tax-related materials, a
subject index and case digests.
With the improved telecommunications system in the country, the company launched CD Asia Online
containing its databases of Philippine laws and jurisprudence. The materials found in the website are
classified and sorted by a unique, internally-developed search engine that organizes the search results
according to the researcher’s needs and specifications. The design of the search template makes it easy
for the end-users to type in their search queries. The back-end is a superior application that can group
and sort the search results by relevance, date, issuance number, G.R. number, ponente, and year. It can
also automatically cross-reference and link related documents.
As may be gleaned by the history of electronic law libraries in the Philippines, private corporations have
taken the lead in digitizing the law-related information and creating legal information systems. Albeit for
commercial purposes, these initiatives made the law available and accessible to researchers.
34 Proximity search is a feature of CD Asia’s titles. It allows the researcher to look for words within a specified number from each other. It operates on the principle that the nearer the words are to each other, the greater the probability that these words will have a relationship in meaning. 35 CD Asia uses Folio Views as the search software for its optical media titles.
Since the inception of Philippine electronic law libraries, laws have been promulgated for the
establishment and development of telecommunications facilities in the country to facilitate internet
connectivity.36 One of these is the Electronic Commerce Act37 section 27 of which provide:
SECTION 27. Government Use of Electronic Data Messages, Electronic Documents and Electronic Signatures. — Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, within two (2) years from the date of the effectivity of this Act, all departments, bureaus, offices and agencies of the government, as well as all government-owned and -controlled corporations, that pursuant to law require or accept the filing of documents, require that documents be created, or retained and/or submitted, issue permits, licenses or certificates of registration or approval, or provide for the method and manner of payment or settlement of fees and other obligations to the government, shall — (a) accept the creation, filing or retention of such documents in the form or electronic data
messages or electronic documents; xxx
Section 28 of the same Act also provides:
SECTION 28. RPWEB to Promote the Use of Electronic Documents or Electronic Data Messages in Government and to the General Public. — Within two (2) years from the effectivity of this Act, there shall be installed an electronic online network in accordance with Administrative Order 332 and House of Representatives Resolution 890, otherwise known as RPWEB, to implement Part IV of this Act to facilitate the open, speedy and efficient electronic online transmission, conveyance and use of electronic data messages or electronic documents amongst all government departments, agencies, bureaus, offices down to the division level and to the regional and provincial offices as practicable as possible, government-owned and controlled corporations, local government units, other public instrumentalities, universities, colleges and other schools, and universal access to the general public. (emphasis supplied)
After the promulgation of these laws, government agencies started developing and posting their
websites. However, the sites did not contain much law-related information. And the few issuances
uploaded were in non-searchable scanned images. The websites also either has a general search engine
(i.e., Google) or do not have a search engine at all. There are currently few government websites which
have both substantial content and sensible search engines.38
In the Supreme Court case of Virgilio O. Garcillano, petitioner, vs. The House of Representatives
Committees on Public Information, Public Order and Safety, National Defense and Security, Information
36 Rep. Act No. 7925 (1997), The Public Telecommunications Policy Act (March 1, 1995) and Admin. Order No. 332, Directing All Government Agencies and Instrumentalities Including Local Government Units to Undertake Electronic Interconnection Through the Internet To Be Known as the RPWEB 37 Rep. Act No. 8792 (2000), An Act Providing for the Recognition and Use of Electronic Commercial and Non-Commercial Transactions, Penalties for Unlawful Use Thereof, and Other Purposes 38 Examples are the House of Representatives website at www.congress.gov.ph, Philippine Senate official website at www.senate.gov.ph, the Department of Interior and Local Government at www.dilg.gov.ph, Department of Trade and Industry at www.dti.gov.ph and Department of Agrarian Reform Legal Information System at www.lis.dar.gov.ph which CD Asia designed and created for the agency.
and Communications Technology, and Suffrage and Electoral Reforms, respondents,39 the Philippine
Supreme Court ruled:
The publication of the Rules of Procedure in the website of the Senate, or in pamphlet form available at the Senate, is not sufficient under the Tañada v. Tuvera ruling which requires publication either in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation. The Rules of Procedure even provide that the rules "shall take effect seven (7) days after publication in two (2) newspapers of general circulation", precluding any other form of publication. Publication in accordance with Tañada is mandatory to comply with the due process requirement because the Rules of Procedure put a person's liberty at risk. A person who violates the Rules of Procedure could be arrested and detained by the Senate. The invocation by the respondents of the provisions of R.A. No. 8792, otherwise known as the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000, to support their claim of valid publication through the internet is all the more incorrect. R.A. 8792 considers an electronic data message or an electronic document as the functional equivalent of a written document only for evidentiary purposes. In other words, the law merely recognizes the admissibility in evidence (for their being the original) of electronic data messages and/or electronic documents. It does not make the internet a medium for publishing laws, rules and regulations. (emphasis in the original)
From the foregoing, it can be surmised that the online uploading of the law is for reference purposes
only, and cannot be considered as a substitute for print publication or as legally recognized and
accepted procedure for publication.
One of the projects of the present Philippine government is the publication of the Official Gazette online
as the official government portal.40 The website intends to publish online the legislative, executive and
judicial issuances included in the print version of the gazette. Also, there is a pending bill in the
Philippine Congress entitled “Freedom of Information Act”.41 Section 14 of the proposed legislation
provides for “Promotion of Openness in Government” and requires for the publication and
dissemination of “important rules and regulations, orders and decisions” by government institutions “at
no cost to the public and in an accessible form, by print and through their website ....” The section
further states that “Government agencies shall maintain and preserve their records in a manner that
facilitates easy identification, retrieval and communication to the public. They shall establish
Management Information Systems (MIS) to strengthen their capability to store, manage and retrieve
records, and to facilitate access to public records….”42
The effort of the Philippine government to make law-related information accessible by the public is
commendable. However, the long-standing problems in government records-keeping cannot be erased
by one administration. Digitalization of records only became the norm in the 1980s and by that time,
39 G.R. No. 170338, December 23, 2008, Lex Libris Jurisprudence (2010). 40
See www.gov.ph 41 House Bill No. 3732, 15th Congress (2010). 42 Ibid.
there were already voluminous records of government issuances. Also, the conversion of their print
records is not part of the core competencies of these agencies.
In his article, “On Not Throwing Out the Baby: Planning the Future of Legal Information,”43 Robert
Berring made the following observation in discussing the possibility of the government providing “free
or low-cost legal information” to the public:
[A] system of government publishing is … less appealing. Government printing has compiled a dismal record. Most librarians can only shake their heads with dismay when contemplating the actions of the Government Printing Office in recent years. Even when the government does do a good job … it fails to provide the auxiliary aids like good indexes, finding tools, and easily used updating, which are critical to information users. x x x Proponents of government publishing also underestimate the barriers posed by the technology that would be needed. The issue of government publishing is inextricably linked to questions of new technology…. Any electronic format, however, would require extensive investment in new equipment. x x x [T]hose who propose a government-operated legal information system, built on the foundation of digital technology, underestimate the cost and challenge involved. Some think that one only need dump the opinions of the court in raw form onto an electronic bulletin board to solve the information puzzle. Such raw data would do almost no one any good. Only an expert could manipulate it, and there would be huge problems of maintenance, reliability, and security. Finally, … any government effort to distribute free or low-cost legal information will benefit lawyers more than anyone else. By far, the greatest use of legal information is made by lawyers in various guises, mostly to make money. If the government does expend significant resources to create an entirely new legal database, the greatest beneficiaries will be the for-profit legal community. Law firms will have the expertise necessary to manipulate most effectively the kind of raw data that a government system is likely to provide. It is hard to believe that such a system will not end up best serving the interests of the practicing bar. One would have to be incredibly naive to think that such a program will end up really being designed for the average citizen. Subsidizing the practice of law is hardly an attractive goal for public spending at this point in time. A second potential political problem revolves around issues of charging the user access to legal information. There is increasing pressure on all government agencies to produce an income stream. Who is to say that a federally run system, once in place, will not start charging those who wish to use it substantial fees?
43 83 Calif. Law Review 615, March 1995, Lexis.com.
New information systems are coming. . . . The imperative to use the tools technology provides to construct a new style of information system is clear. The sticky part comes with the concept that the government should build the new system. Gathering the data, checking it for accuracy, and providing it in database form is both expensive and difficult. I simply have no faith in the federal government's ability to do it well. Nor does this age of state and federal budget cutbacks seem to be the correct moment in history to ask the American taxpayer to fund the substantial costs of developing such a system.
The same observation holds true today. In particular, the Philippine government has more pressing
concerns it has to address and priority programs for funding. It is thus understandable that the
digitization of government information, although important, will not be in its priority list. This is where
the public-private partnership44 promoted by the present administration can come into operation. For
as long as the digitization of information is not yet a priority key mandate for government agencies,
private companies will still play a major role in the development of legal information systems in the
Philippines.
III. Towards An ASEAN Legal Information Center: Some Practical Considerations
Working on the premise of an electronic compilation to serve as the ASEAN Legal Information Center,
the two elements of content development and medium for access and delivery must be considered.
A. Content Development
A simple online search45 shows that the ASEAN member countries have their respective legal
information posted online.
For example, Brunei Darussalam has websites on legislation46 and judicial decisions.47 The Cambodian
law may be found at http://cambodia.ohchr.org/KLC_pages/klc_english.htm and
http://gocambodia.com/laws/. There is a separate website for Cambodian Investment Law at
http://www.mekongexpress.com/ cambodia/general/caminvestlaw.htm. In the official website of the
Supreme Court of Cambodia,48 one can find the Cambodian Civil Code, Criminal Code Procedure, Law on
Anti-Corruption, Law on Anti-Terrorism, Law on Investment and other major laws. However, all of these
are in the Cambodian language and only the Law on Commercial Arbitration and Law on Labor have
English versions. A search for the English equivalent of these laws links to another website49; however,
44 CD Asia has been tapped to be the private sector partner in the development of the Official Gazette Online. 45 Through the search engines Google and Yahoo, and web portals like the World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII), www.worldlii.org. 46 See http://www.pmo.gov.bn/ and http://www.mofat.gov.bn/ 47 See http://www.judicial.gov.bn/ 48 http://www.supremecourt.gov.kh/index.php/en/laws ( December 12, 2011). 49 http://www.cambodia.gov.kh/unisql1/ egov/english/home.view.html
the same is a broken link50 which does not display the information needed. The website Jurist Law has a
link (http://www.jurist.law.pitt.edu/world/cambodia.htm) which contains law-related information for
the country.
The website of the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam51 has the Constitution of the
Vietnam but no other laws. The Vietnam Laws Online Database52 advertises that there are English
translations of over 3,000 Vietnamese laws, but the subscription page is also a broken link. For Laos,
there are few websites available. The law-related information found from the country are its investment
law (http://www.mekongexpress.com/laos/general/investlaw.htm), business law (http://www.business-
in-asia.com/countries/laos_legal.html) and intellectual property law (http://www.unescap.org/tid/mtg/
ip_s4lao.pdf).
Most of the websites on legal information in Myanmar are broken links except for the Burma’s Lawyers
Council website at http://www.blc-burma.org/html/Myanmar%20Law/lr_e_ml93_01.html.53 It has
copies of the Constitution of the Union of Burma (1947), the Constitution of The Socialist Republic of the
Union of Burma (1974), Burma Code Volumes (I-XII)(1818-1954), Parliament Acts (1955-1961),
Revolutionary Council Law (1962-1974), The Code of Criminal Procedure, The Penal Code, The State
Protection Law (1975), Unlawful Association Act, The Printers and Publishers Registration Law (1962),
Law Amending The Printers and Publishers Registration Law, Emergency Provision Act (1950), The
Official Secrets Act, and the 1985 Video Law. It also has links to the judicial issuances of Myanmar.
In the ASEAN Law Association official website, there is a link to the available websites per country. The
list for Singaporean and Thai law-related information is quite extensive. Also, the CJ Koh Law Library54 of
the National University of Singapore has a page on “Law in ASEAN” which lists various law-related
websites in each member country. The list show that some member countries have well-developed
websites on legal information while others contain only select pieces of legislation.
Based on the foregoing, one may argue that there is no shortage of ASEAN legal information online.
However, a preliminary perusal of the listed websites showed that the type of information posted online
by each country varies. Given the foregoing disparate law-related information found per country, one of
the first questions to be addressed in the development of content for the ASEAN law center is how to
standardize the legal information and observe uniformity in the data posted per country. There should
be a measure of the type of information that each country must minimally publish on its government
website. The issue of content development must be one of the first questions addressed in the
50 A “broken link” is a hyperlink in a web page to another page which no longer exists; when clicked by the user of a browser such a link generates an error message. There are a number of reasons for broken links. Two common ones are that the file referenced in the link no longer exists or that the server hosting the file is out of action. DARREL INCE. "broken link." A Dictionary of the Internet. 2001. Retrieved December 13, 2011 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O12-brokenlink.html 51 http://www.na.gov.vn/#nkzHOXa2MiAD (December 12, 2011) 52
A subscription site at http://www.vietnamlaws.com/online_database.aspx 53 As of December 30, 2011. 54 www.lib.nus.edu.sg/lib/internet/asean.html
The “digital divide”57 across ASEAN member countries was reported in the “Master Plan on ASEAN
Connectivity,” where it stated that “[d]eveloping ASEAN ICT infrastructure faces a number of challenges.
The most important one comes from the extent of digital divide across the ASEAN Member States and
how to overcome this. Bridging the digital divide requires commitment from the Member States to
improve the competitiveness of their national ICT sectors.”58 Another study, “The ASEAN E-Commerce
55 The updating of materials posted online is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Information is kept current, but, at the same time, information changes rapidly. 56
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm, December 8, 2011. 57 “Digital divide” is defined as “information access capability gulf that separates those who are connected to the internet and those who are not,” http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/digital-divide.html, December 10, 2011. 58 Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity, December 2010, p. 24, http://www.asean.org/documents/MPAC.pdf
Database Project,” also provides useful statistics on the connectivity status in the ASEAN member
countries.59 The respective government offices in the member countries must take the lead in ensuring
connectivity in their jurisdictions. Even if the information center can be published electronically and
uploaded online, it will be of little use if the intended user cannot access the same due to less developed
telecommunications facilities.
C. Development of An Official Website Portal for ASEAN Law
In 1998, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded a “Feasibility Study for Project DIAL (Development
of the Internet for Asian Law)”60 to “to provide electronic (Internet) access by developing member
countries (DMC) officials involved in the law reform process to (i) full text legislative and regulatory
materials drawn from developed countries and developing countries…”61 One62 of the project’s activities
was providing assistance in the uploading of legislation from the participating DMCs and making these
part of one web portal.63
Similarly, the law-related of the ASEAN member countries can be made accessible through one website
portal. As mentioned previously, there is already a “Link” in the ALA website’s menu. This link could be
further developed as the portal to the ASEAN Legal Information Center. It will contain the links to the
different law-related websites, present and future, of the member countries.
It might be argued that since law-related information from ASEAN countries are already available online,
the creation of another web page serving as a portal may be superfluous. Presently, however, the legal
websites from the ASEAN countries could only be located by an end-user who knows how to maximize
the use of general search engines or knows how to formulate the right search parameters to produce
search results listing these websites.
According to the ASEAN official website, there are ASEAN Legal Information Authorities per country
which will be in-charge of “facilitating the exchange of legal information among the ASEAN member
countries.”64 It further mentioned that the ALIAs “will also be the repository of ASEAN legal information
for their respective governments.”65 The ALIAs can be the point persons responsible for locating online
legal information and linking these to the website portal as well as keeping the information updated,
with no broken links.
59 http://www.aseansec.org/documents/ASEAN%20eCommerce%20Database%20Project.pdf 60 Graham Greenleaf, Project Dial Report, http://www2.austlii.edu.au/~graham/DIAL_Report/Report-1.2.html 61 Ibid. 62 Another project activity was to conduct user training in the participating DMCs. CD Asia was the Regional Training Coordinator for the project and organized training in China (Beijing and Shanghai), Indonesia (Jakarta), Mongolia (Ulan Bator), Pakistan (Islamabad), Cambodia (Phnom Penh), Laos (Vientiane), Vietnam (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh), and the Philippines. 63
Some of the legislation are now accessible at www.worldlii.org. 64 http://www.aseansec.org/19883.htm 65 Ibid.
Further, law libraries in universities can play a crucial role in the establishment of the center. Law
libraries do acquire varied materials to make it part of its collection. While government websites are
being developed, the law libraries can share its own online collection and create links to the online
portal.
In the development of the proposed Center, it might be helpful to reference Mirela Rosnovschi’s article
“Update to Evaluating Foreign and International Legal Websites on the Internet.” 66 The author provided
a comprehensive list of some of the possible features to be considered in the development of the
website portal such as content completeness, author/publisher’s authority to upload legal information,
authenticity, language, accuracy and currency, archiving (or data retention, as mentioned in another
part of this paper), and search quality/findability (i.e., search engine’s capability), among others.
IV. Conclusion
Technology has allowed us to break the down the walls of the law library. While the law will still be
limited by physical boundaries in its application within the territorial jurisdiction of a country, its effect
and relevance have extended beyond its borders. The application of legal precepts has become global
and information technology, as an integral element and key aspect of globalization, has helped make the
law within reach.
The foundation for the establishment of a centre of information for ASEAN law already exists. Law-
related information from each member country is available online. Each member country can build on
the existing databases, following the guidelines that will be set out by ALA governing body. In
formulating the guidelines, the ALA governing board must keep in mind that “[a] digital collection is only
as good as its access points and user interface”67 and “[d]igital resources need to be easily found to be
used.”68
As in any endeavor, there must be the political will to ensure the project’s fruitful completion. In the
article, “Democracy, Development and Access to Official Information in the Philippines,”69 the author
opines that there is still widespread denial of access to information despite the Constitutional guarantee
and one of the reasons offered for this denial is of a technological nature. He writes:
A large section of the Philippine government is still without the equipment to electronically store information. This can make information retrieval difficult. When the information is not in the processed, readily available form, affording the public access to such information often
66 http://www.llrx.com/features/evaluating2.htm (October 2, 2011) 67 Michelle M. Wu, Building a Collaborative Digital Collection: A Necessary Evolution in Libraries, 103 Law Libr. J. 527-551, Georgetown Faculty Publications (2011) at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1832826 (December 3, 2011) 68 Ibid. 69 Nepomuceno A. Malaluan, http://www.aer.ph/images/stories/projects/id/access.pdf
requires additional work. Providing access is seen not as part of the regular duties, but as a favor subject to the custodian’s discretion and convenience.
xxx xxx xxx
Legislation is needed to put in place a simple, speedy and effective means of enforcing the right to information. On the practical side, legislation can provide uniform condition and procedures in obtaining access to official information. Such matters as forms of request, the period for the agency to respond, the fees, the form of response, the form of information to be made available, and other matters relating to procedure and conditions of access can facilitate a simple, speedy and effective access when made definite and uniform. On the substantive side, legislation can provide a clear penalty for the unlawful denial of access to official information. This will give the guaranty more teeth and discourage violations of the right.
Likewise, in the establishment of the ASEAN legal information center, a directive from the ASEAN
governing board must be promulgated for all member countries to make their law-related information
available. However, given the different conditions existing per country, there will be discrepancies in the
readiness of government agencies therein to digitally share its information. Thus, the ASEAN Law
Association’s member organizations must be ready to give support – monetary or technology-wise – to
these institutions.
The creation of a website portal is one suggestion towards the establishment of an ASEAN legal
information center. There are certainly other ways, perhaps even better ones, of doing so. However, in
the meantime that a comprehensive plan is being formulated, it is suggested that the available online
resources be made use of and built upon to have a working and usable information center for ASEAN
