ADDITIONAL laws for e-commerce ensure progress.
This was according to Globe Telecom senior vice-president for the corporate and regulatory affairs and spokesperson Atty. Rodolfo Salalima during his lecture titled “E-Commerce, Where To?” at the Chiang-Ching-Kuo Conference Hall last Feb. 5
“E-Commerce depends on the technology we are using. Our technologies are moving so fast and yet our laws can not keep up with them,” Salalima said.
E-commerce is any transaction that uses electronic messages, telecommunications, broadcasting, and the Internet.
Salalima said that passing Republic Act 8792 or the E-Commerce law solved the problem.
“Ang kagandahan ng E-Commerce law, may provision doon (na) physical infrastructure or networks of cable TV shall be for purposes of e-commerce be considered telecom. Therefore foreign investors can come in,” he said.
The law has a provision wherein electronic tran-sactions or contracts can now be proven in court. Complaints, pleadings or subpoenas though, are still inadmissible.
According to Salalima, laws that cannot keep up with the present technology hamper e-commerce. He cited our own Constitution as one that “short-circuited” e-commerce.
In the field of telecommunications, foreigners are not permitted to be 100% shareholders of a company. Due to the law, foreign investments are limited.
Still, even with international laws for copyright for copyright electronic media or clearing houses to guarantee trustworthiness of electronic transactions, Salalima said that the present law cannot respond to new crimes or electronic fraud.
“There (is) no specific anti-hacking law. But there (is) an anti-swindling law with penalty of 30 days,” Salalima said.
An expert in telecommunications and corporate law, Salalima became the vice-president and head of the legal and human relations deptartment of BayanTel from 1990-1993. He was Chief Counsel of Sky Cable and Globe Telecom.
He was the president of Philippine Electronics and Telecommunications Federations and the Telecommunication and Broadcast Authorities of the Philippines. He is also the managing director of the Ayala Corporation.
