Internet Transactions bill gets Senate approval on 3rd reading

The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading the proposed Internet Transactions Act with 20-0-0 votes.

Senate Bill No. 1846 seeks to protect merchants and consumers against fraudulent practices in internet transactions. It also seeks to ensure that e-commerce transactions be reliable, secure, and accessible to all consumers.

The bill also imposes penalties against e-marketplaces, e-retailers, online merchants, and digital platforms that violate consumer acts, and violators of certain provisions may face fines.

Before the bill hurdled third and final reading, Senator Mark Villar, principal sponsor of the measure introduced several amendments to the proposed legislation.

Bills are not allowed to be passed on second and third reading within a day, except when certified urgent by the president. The measure was certified urgent in June.

While the minority bloc was in favor of its passage, its members objected to the certification of the bill as urgent.

“This is an unfortunate turn of events. We could’ve approved this in a normal course of proceeding but of course, if we have discovered some errors, we can try our best to perfect our measures here that we have approved on third reading,” Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III manifested.

“Unfortunately, we are back to the constitutional provision that presidential certification can be…issued only for measures that are meant to address public calamity or an emergency. It’s a directive that the president should also comply with from the constitution. And an Internet Transactions Act, it needs wild imagination for us to believe that there is a public calamity or emergency which will be answered by this particular measure,” he added.

Pimentel, a lawyer, pointed out that a president cannot issue a certification just because it’s a priority of the administration.

“It might be a priority legislative measure but it cannot be given a presidential certification of urgency and necessity under the constitution. So this representation objects the two readings in one day,” he said.

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said he respects Pimentel’s opinion but said that “all of the scams that are happening now in the internet is an emergency.”

With Pimentel’s objection, Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva put the decision to proceed with the passage of the bill on second and third reading within one day to a vote, wherein the minority leader’s motion was lost.

The counterpart of this bill was passed by the House of Representatives in December.

In his first State of the Nation Address, Marcos asked Congress to enact the E-Commerce Law which will "establish an effective regulation of commercial activities through the internet or electronic means to ensure that consumer rights and data privacy are protected, innovation is encouraged, fair advertising practices and competition are promoted, online transactions are secured, intellectual property rights are protected, and product standards and safety are observed."—LDF, GMA Integrated News