Despite not being a beneficiary of the e-Government Fund, Congress for one is already conducting its own computerization. Unfortunately, lack of budget is its worst enemy and it may take some time to complete its modernization plan. The head of the Congress’s modernization program is its Information and Communications Technology Service (ICTS), a division composed of 20 software programmers and hardware specialists who have mapped out a two-phase plan to make the long halls of Congress IT-friendly.
II Angeline Garcia says their division has begun the first phase of the modernization project – connecting several secretariats and committee offices into a local area network (LAN). From there, connected offices can link to the Legislative Information System (Legis) and its digital documents of republic acts and engross (final print of laws).
But the more daunting task is the installation network cables in the 230 offices of congressmen who are mostly located in the North Wing, South Wing, and main congress building, says Garcia. “The problem is that we may only have enough resources to install a LAN [in] just a few offices for now. We can’t do this because the other congressmen might howl at being left out. Everyone has to be connected at the same time,” she said.
ICTS network maintenance chief Fernan Bayate says his division is also considering cheaper, easier to install wireless access points instead, to lessen the burden of installing miles of structured cables in the three areas.
Of course, he said, Wifi (wireless fidelity), even the new 802.11g Wifi standard, can still be illegally accessed by a mobile hacker. “Unless there is a better way of securing Wifi, we won’t be doing that in the meantime.”
Nevertheless, lack of security did not prevent the ICTS from installing the very first Wifi access point in Congress three months ago. Located in the main session hall, the access point has a range of 300 feet and is now fully utilized in plenary sessions.
Some congressmen have purchased Wifi-enabled laptops and Nokia 9500 Communicators to connect to this access point, Bayate said. At a given time, about 20 congressmen connect to it.
“Often these congressmen would run out of batteries and they have to scramble, looking for a plug in the walls or the floors. There are even times when they complain of low connection speed from the access point,” he added.
The second phase of the modernization project is installation of a remote voting and attendance monitoring system in the main session hall, along with a projector for presentations.
An extension of the first phase, the attendance monitor would have congressmen logging in and out through a digital assistant with a biometric reader in plenary meetings. “It’s going to be easier to know if they’re really present during meetings,” quipped Bayate.
He adds that they would consider a video conferencing system modeled after the US to allow congressmen to join assemblies without having to be physically present. “Of course, that will require honesty on the part of the congressman,” he quipped again.
Apart from managing connectivity, the ICTS also developed and manages the Legislative Information System or Legis, the main repository of nearly 3,000 digitized republic acts.
ICTS software group chief Eduardo Damian, Jr. says Legis has only the laws encoded from the 8th Congress in 1998. “Most of the database we have came from the VAX computer days when we started encoding the laws. We’re about to start scanning the remaining laws down to the Commonwealth days.”
Damian said that the first phase of the computerization of Congress was necessary to enable legislators to access the database. While the Legis itself is accessible only through their LAN, it will eventually be opened for public use.
In the meantime, the public will have to visit their website (www.congress.gov.ph), though the only republic acts and bills stored there are from the 13th Congress.
Damian also pointed out that the ICTS develops its own applications, mostly on open source. He said Legis was ported to mySQL a few years back.
Members of ICTS believe their modernization plan will work, if only the Congress could allocate the necessary budget. According to Garcia, the division submits a proposal every congressional year but has always been stumped by questions on costs.
“Although perception by some older members of Congress is a major factor contributing to the lackluster speed of implementing modernization, it’s the scarcity of money that is the more prevalent problem,” Garcia said.
Thankfully, the ICTS is being aided by Cong. Simeon Kintanar, who heads the congressional ICT committee. He reviews the modernization regularly and forwards developments to his colleagues in plenary sessions.
The ICTS is also hoping for stronger support from more members of Congress. The likes of Congressmen Gilbert Remulla, Micheale Duavit, Ramon Magsaysay Jr. Francis Escudero, Robert Barbers, and Roilo Golez are among the most IT-savvy members of Congress.
“Budget is sparse but we’re getting by. Eventually, we believe that the modernization would be completed. It has to anyway or the Congress would be left behind,” Garcia said.
Autor: Alexander Villafania
Quelle: INQ7, 02.06.2005
