House of Representatives plenary (INQUIRER files)
MANILA, Philippines — The meeting with legislative officials of Japan will help the Philippine House of Representatives fine-tune its operations, Secretary General Reginald Velasco said on Tuesday.
Velasco in a statement said senior officials, including him and his counterpart, met in Tokyo to exchange the best practices in terms of the legislative processes.
His counterpart is Japanese House of Representatives International Affairs Department Director General Yamamoto Hironori.
Velasco said the meeting underscored the commitment of both nations to strengthen parliamentary cooperation.
“Our exchange with Director General Yamamoto provides us with invaluable insights that can help refine our legislative practices and better serve our constituents,” Velasco said.
“We are committed to adopting innovative approaches that promote transparency, accountability and efficiency in our legislative work,” he noted.
According to Velasco, Yamamoto had expressed his enthusiasm for the collaboration, noting Japan’s commitment to sharing legislative experience with the Philippines.
Among the best practices discussed in the meeting were the following:
- Digital transformation of legislative processes
- Effective public consultation mechanisms
- Strategies for enhancing legislative oversight
READ: House forms cybersecurity panel after attack on website
The House official said the Philippine side has already initiated innovations particularly on the side of digitization and enhancing cybersecurity.
“This exchange is part of a broader initiative to strengthen bilateral relations between the Philippines and Japan, fostering deeper cooperation across various sectors,” Velasco said.
“Through engagements like this, the House aims to build a responsive legislative institution that meets the evolving needs of the Filipino people,” he added.
Cybersecurity was one of the House’ problems recently, with Velasco admitting that the website of the chamber saw an overwhelming 541 million cyberattacks on March 13.
READ: House website subjected to 541.66M cyberattacks on March 13 – exec
In October 2023, the website was taken down after it was defaced by placing a troll face on the homepage, by the hackers going by the name ~3MUSKETEERZ.
Velasco said he would beef up the cybersecurity of the House to protect it from possible attacks and data leaks.