Senior House Deputy Majority Leader Boying Remulla is proposing to scrap the use of paper for legislative work but switch to electronic tablets instead.
Remulla said that using tablets would allow lawmakers to check provisions of bills and resolutions and monitor their progress in the legislative mill without consuming too much paper.
The lawmaker added that the House spent P9 million last year on paper alone.
“We will try to make better use of tablets. We’ll use tablets more for the members because we are the biggest consumer of paper among all government institutions. Last year, I think we spent P9 million,” Remulla explained.
The lawmaker adds that the Lower House may save more money because switching to digital would only cost at least Php6 million for 300 lawmakers.
“We already calculated the cost of an Android tablet or open-source tablet. It’s P20,000 with a memory card. P20,000 with the memory card times 300, you’re just talking about P6 million. We spent P9 million on paper alone,” Remulla added.
Lawmakers who may find themselves ‘technologically challenged’ can still request documents on paper.
Remulla clarified that lawmakers will have to return the tablets after their term.
