REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Resolution No. 271

Introduced by Kabataan Party-List Rep. Raymond V. Palatino

A RESOLUTION
TO IMPLEMENT THE USE OF INTERNET LIVE STREAMING TECHNOLOGY TO
BROADCAST ALL PUBLIC COMMITTEE HEARINGS AND PLENARY SESSIONS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

WHEREAS, Sec. 7, Art. III of the 1987 Constitution asserts “the right of the people to
information on matters of public concern shall be recognized”;
WHEREAS, Sec. 1, Art. XI of the 1987 Constitution affirms that “public office is a
public trust,” and that “public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to
the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, act with
patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives”;
WHEREAS, one of the best ways to afford the People their right to information and to
promote transparency and accountability among public officers is to allow the public to
actually witness public proceedings undertaken by government agencies;
WHEREAS, as one of the most important agencies of the Government, the House of
Representatives has the duty to be accountable to the People, and thus must initiate
measures that will address the People’s right to information on matters of public concern
being tackled in the House’s committee hearings and plenary sessions;
WHEREAS, unlike before when physical limitations and security considerations
restrict the open accommodation of ordinary citizens, regardless of their characters and
numbers, into the halls of the House of Representatives in order to allow them to witness
Congress proceedings, today there are available technologies that allow any person to
witness such proceedings without actual physical presence in Batasan;
WHEREAS, aside from television and/or radio broadcasts of all proceedings in the
House of Representatives, which may not be entirely feasible granted the cost and
complications of such technology and the limited available airtime in either commercial or
government broadcast stations, the House of Representatives can opt to utilize existing
internet live streaming technologies in order to broadcast all proceedings in Congress at
very minimal cost;
WHEREAS, there are as many as 30 million Filipinos today, or almost a third of the
population, who use the internet and who will be able to access the internet live streaming
broadcasts of the House of Representatives;
WHEREAS, granted such a wide reach, and given the very minimal cost and the ease
of implementation of internet live streaming broadcast, the House of Representatives has
very few reasons not to take the opportunity to be of greater service to its public;
WHEREAS, last week, a similar resolution was proposed in the Senate by Senator
Francis Pangilinan calling on the Senate to broadcast its plenary and committee proceedings
through live streaming on the internet;
WHEREAS, the House of Representatives must take the lead and initiative in the
genuine fulfillment of our duty to be transparent and accountable to our constituents;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, AS IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED, that the

House of Representatives take the initiative to broadcast all its plenary sessions and
committee hearings through the use of internet live streaming technology in order to
promote accountability and transparency, and to afford our People their right to accurate
information involving matters of public concern tackled in our plenary and committee
sessions;

Adopted,

HON. RAYMOND V. PALATINO

Representative, Kabataan Party-list