Calling out a “quiet injustice” where citizens are bound by laws they cannot easily access, Rep. Javier Miguel “Javi” Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) filed House Bill 9468 on Tuesday, May 26.
The measure seeks to establish the “Philippine Open Law System,” a free, consolidated, continuously updated, and searchable public platform for the nation’s legal issuances, statutes, and jurisprudence.
The bill also institutionalizes strict safeguards for AI-assisted legal information services, he said.
In a privilege speech in the House on Monday, May 25, Benitez noted that while the text of Philippine statutes is technically public through the Official Gazette and the Supreme Court E-Library, the functional, cross-referenced versions are locked behind expensive commercial subscriptions.
“We have ended up with two tiers of law in one Republic. One for those who can pay to understand it, and one for everyone else,” Benitez told the chamber.
“A Makati firm pays without a second thought. A farmer in Victorias will never see it. A right you cannot find is not really a right at all”, he said.
Under the Civil Code, ignorance of the law excuses no one from compliance, but it carries a parallel obligation for the State to make those laws accessible and understandable, Benitez said.
The Supreme Court previously recognized in Tañada v. Tuvera that publication is indispensable to inform the people of the rules governing them, a principle reinforced by the 1987 Constitution’s guarantee of the right to information on matters of public concern, Benitez noted in his bill’s explanatory note.
“These principles reflect a deeper democratic premise: the law is not the private property of lawyers, publishers, institutions, or government offices,” Benitez said. “It belongs to the people because it governs the people.”
Currently, public access to Philippine law remains fragmented and scattered across different repositories, he said.
To understand a law that has been amended multiple times, an ordinary citizen must locate the original statute, track every amendatory law, figure out which provisions remain in force, consult implementing rules, and search for related jurisprudence, Benitez pointed out.
While this process is a routine for lawyers and institutions with paid databases, Benitez warned it is “practically impossible” for workers, farmers, fisherfolk, students, microentrepreneurs, and barangay officials.
House Bill 9468’s infrastructure is explicitly designed to accommodate the country’s current digital realities, he said.
Citing a Philippine Statistics Authority report that only 48.8 percent of households had an internet connection in 2024, the bill mandates accessibility measures tailored for low-bandwidth, mobile-first, and offline or assisted-access conditions, Benitez said.
This includes ensuring access through public terminals, barangay facilities, libraries, schools, or local government offices, alongside provisions for persons with disabilities.
In pushing for the immediate passage of the measure, Benitez stressed that access to law is an essential condition for meaningful citizenship and the rule of law.
“A right that cannot be found, read, or understood is a right diminished in practice,” Benitez said.
“The law is already the people’s. The State must finally put it in their hands”, he said.*
[sibwp_form id=1]