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Councilor Rene Elias Lopez, who chairs the council's committee on information technology, said the move is a brand new addition to the city council's effort to improve legislation – by connecting to the internet for fast access to information. "It's helping us do research in aid of legislation," he told MindaNews.
Lopez said connecting the whole building to the internet will cost the city council around P422,000.
He said that the wireless internet the councilors are enjoying now is still a “demo connection” so they will appreciate the technology.
He said two firms have already submitted bids for the project which will make internet available not only in the session hall but also in each of the offices of the councilors and the conference halls in the third level of the building.
While participating in the deliberations of the council in its session today, Lopez and Councilor Peter Laviña took turns surfing the internet using a laptop on the latter's desk.
Lopez said that, thanks to the internet, they now know what an African Tulip Tree is. The plant is among those proposed to be planted in the improved PTA park, one of the city’s landmarks. He also cited another search, for prices of equipment for the bids committee.
Lopez said the step is just a sign of the city government's response to the call for local government units to beef up its information technology infrastructure to improve delivery of services.
As of now, some of the councilors surf the internet from their offices, but with the slow dialup connection.
