[ossig] Phillipine Open source bill hits snag in Congress

[Ditesh Kumar]

>From http://www.asianjournal.com/?c=190&a=18662

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The Asian Journal
March 8th, 2007


Open source bill hits snag in Congress
MANILA, Philippines -- A bill filed in Congress that proposes the use of
open source technology in government is drawing lackadaisical support
from the country's lawmakers.
House Bill 5769, also referred to as the Free and Open Source Software
(FOSS) Act, mandates the use of open source software in government and
public academic institutions. 

The bill, authored by Bayan Muna party list representative Teddy Casino,
was filed September last year but has undergone only a single hearing so
far in the previous Congress. 

During a conference Thursday, Casino said the bill will likely be
re-filed when the next Congress resumes session midyear.

He said only three congressmen expressed interest in the bill, including
Cebu representative Simeon Kintanar, who heads the Lower House committee
on ICT. 

Casino described the bill as a "work in progress" and noted in an
interview that the biggest hurdle is the lack of awareness among
lawmakers on open source. 

The bill was criticized by the Philippine Software Industry Association
(PSIA), an industry group representing major software vendors. In a
statement, PSIA said the bill limits freedom of choice among users and
hinders the growth of the industry. 

The bill, among other provisions, proposes to provide non-fiscal
incentives to agencies that use open source and bans software patents. 

It also seeks the creation of an attached agency under the Commission on
Information and Communications Technology (CICT) to oversee the
agencies' migration to open source. 

However, Casino said the bill does not prohibit the use of proprietary
software.

"In the event of extraordinary circumstances when there is no
counterpart software that meets an agency's requirements, an alternative
(to proprietary software) should be considered. Ideally, the agency
should open this to a public hearing," Casino said. 

He cited complaints from local IT solutions companies that bid on
government projects that specify the use of commercial applications or
those that run on a proprietary platform. 

"The bill does not prohibit…..but mandates the use of open standards,"
he said.


( www.inquirer.net )



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