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i RECEIVED

Republic of the Philippines DATE: _9 1 AUG-2016
House of Representatives vies: [23

Quezon City Metro Manila

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bitl_#1L06

Introduced by REP. ENRICO A. PINEDA and REP. MICHAEL ODYLON L. ROMERO

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Official correspondences and communications are often brimming with words that are
hard to understand, alien even to many ordinary people, resulting in their failure to fully grasp
the contents and meaning of government documents.

As a result the people’s right to know is impeded by jargons and complex terms which
make information released by the government challenging to comprehend.

Compounding unclear language is that government rules are long , and made longer by
footnotes , annexes and attachments.

In a nation with hundreds of dialects , almost all public documents are written in English.
Those written in Filipino are few. Those in other major regional dialects are almost non-existent.
Itis rare for contracts to be written in a language taxpayers understand.

Vague language aggravates red tape. It results in delays in the processing of documents
due to the failure to understand the requirements to be prepared and submitted,

This does not include the ecological cost , from trees felled to produce paper on which
voluminous rules are written .

This bill implements a Plain Language Policy in all official communications. It provides
for a system in which documents can be written in a clear and concise language quickly and
easily understood byl .

E om INEDA

Representative, PACMAN Partylist

YLON L. ROMERO
lative, [PACMAN Partylist

TATIVES


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City Metro Manila

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bitl__&198

Introduced by REP. ENRICO A. PINEDA and REP. MICHAEL ODYLON L. ROMERO

AN ACT
MANDATING A PLAIN LANGUAGE POLICY IN ALL GOVERNMENT
COMMUNICATIONS AND PROVIDING ITS DISSEMINATION AN}
IMPLEMENTATION

Be it enacted by the House of Representatives and the Senate of the Philippines in Congress
assembled :

SECTION 1.Every government agency shall endeavor to use plain language in their
communications orders, compliance, requirements or instructions issued to implement the
provisions of this Act.

SEC 2. The government agencies shall translate key information into major Filipino languages
and present them in popular form and means.

SEC. 3. To carry out the provision of this Act, the Civil Service Com ion (CSC) is
designated to issue guidelines on the use of plain language to suit the needs of the requesting
party. The CSC shall provide the necessary training to employees of each government agency in
using plain language in public documents;

SEC. 4.All departments, agencies and instrumentalities of the national government, including
government-owned or controlled corporations, local government units and state colleges and
universities shall designate an official responsible for implementing the plain language; and

SEC. 5. Website contents, including, but not limited to financial data, notices and other
technical and legal documents, of government agencies must also be written in plain language to
ensure that these information are easy to read, understand and use.


SEC. 6. This Act shall take effect upon its publication in the Official Gazette.

Approved,