Iloilo City ordinances since the 1940s going online soon

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

ILOILO CITY – Vice Mayor Lady Julie Grace “Love-Love” Baronda is eyeing the launch of a website or application that will let the public search and access ordinances, resolutions, committee reports, and other legislative records of the Sangguniang Panlungsod.

The platform could go live within August or, at the latest, within the next one to two months, she said.

“Hopefully this month. The system is already in the finishing touches,” Baronda said Wednesday, Aug. 20.

Central Philippine University is developing the public-access platform with the city, with assistance from other consultants and an organization involved in the project.

Once completed, users will be able to search online for legislation passed by the City Council.

The system will carry legislative records dating back to the 1940s, Baronda said.

Users will also be able to monitor the progress of measures at various committee levels, track committee reports, and determine the status of legislative agendas.

The Office of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Secretariat is working to integrate its existing Records Management System with the new public-facing platform, the vice mayor said.

“We are only waiting for it to be merged because the Records Management System is good to go. We just only need to upload the current legislation,” she said.

The Records Management System serves as the electronic library of legislative documents used by the City Council.

Baronda described the initiative as one way of promoting transparency, particularly after the passage of the city’s Freedom of Information ordinance in June.

“Yes, it is one way of promoting transparency,” Baronda said.

The City Council passed the FOI ordinance on second and final reading June 17, and Mayor Raisa Treñas signed it June 30.

The measure institutionalized a formal mechanism for residents to request access to government records through an FOI Request Form.

Requests may be filed at the central FOI Desk under the Office of the City Mayor or with the FOI Receiving Officer of the office, department, division, or unit that has custody of the information sought.

Baronda said the online repository could reduce the need for such requests because the documents will already be public.

The Sangguniang Panlungsod is the city’s legislative body, and the vice mayor presides over its sessions.

Republic Act 7160, or the Local Government Code, currently requires the sanggunian secretary to post approved ordinances on a bulletin board at the entrance of city hall and in at least two other conspicuous places, a paper-based standard set in 1991.

The national Freedom of Information policy, issued as an executive order in 2016, covers only agencies under the executive branch, leaving local governments to legislate their own access rules.

No funding has been spent on establishing the new system, the vice mayor said.