Which is Superior - Law or Executive Order?

The conflicting provisions between the E-Commerce Law and Executive Order 269 creating the Commission on Information and Communications Technology have created a bottleneck in the implementation of e-government and e-commerce in the country. The E-Commerce Law or Republic Act 8792 mandated the Department of Trade and Industry as its main coordinator (section 29). The reason is, commerce is all about transactions involving businesses and consumers. Thus, DTI's role to coordinate its implementation to facilitate electronic commerce across sectors. The e-government component (section 27 and 28) is intended to ensure modernization to serve local businesses and consumers better, that leads to applications today such as electronic application of your birth certificate through the NSO, passport renewal through the Internet or phone, among others. There are challenges in various e-government services that I will tackle in the weeks to come. To facilitate its implementation, the Information Technology and Electronic Commerce Council or ITECC, through Executive Order 264, was created and led by the DTI Secretary to bring together various stakeholders. It was one of the biggest multi-sectoral bodies involving government and the private sector. When President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo came into power, the executive order creating the body was revised, under Executive Order 18 and made President Arroyo its chairman and the body co-chaired with the DTI secretary and a private sector representative. The private sector chairman at that time, Bobby Romulo, was also an adviser on international competitiveness to the President. A major revamp happened and eventually the e-government fund was created with an initial funding of nearly P4 billion and P1 billion every year afterwards. Prior to the 2004 elections, there was a move to abolish ITECC, under Executive Order 334, and transfer its functions to the newly created CICT, through EO 269, under the Office of the President. Instead of giving control to the DTI of the e-government fund, since it was ITECC co-chair, the money was given to CICT. Some speculated that CICT's formation was because of the money. I think DTI has been sidelined and focused instead its efforts in boosting the outsourcing industry. Although it is in the power of the President to re-align government functions, the question that comes to mind is which reigns supreme? A law or an executive order? Who is accountable for the implementation of e-government and e-commerce in the country when you have RA 8792 and EO 269. I would like to say that it is still DTI. CICT of course can insist that it is under its turf. If Congress will only check it will discover that DTI is accountable. CICT, however, holds the big stick and says where the e-government fund goes despite the absence of an updated Government Information System Plan as required by the law's IRR. It sparked my post last week on the lack of clear accountability on e-government implementation today.