Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno has filed a measure seeking to make Philippine laws more accessible by requiring their translation into Filipino, Bisaya, and Ilocano.
Through House Bill 3863, or the Batas sa Sariling Wika Act, Diokno said ordinary citizens are put at a disadvantage when laws remain written only in English.
“How can we expect ordinary citizens to follow the law if it’s written in a language they can’t understand?” Diokno stressed. He added that workers and families across the country deserve to read laws like the Labor Code or the Anti-VAWC Act in their native tongue.
As a longtime human rights lawyer, Diokno pointed out that many of his clients were ordinary Filipinos who struggled not just financially, but also because they could not fully understand the laws that affected their rights.
The bill seeks to amend the Revised Administrative Code of 1987 by requiring translations of all laws with penal provisions into the three major Philippine languages, which cover the country’s largest ethnolinguistic groups. Under the proposal, new laws must be translated within 90 days, while existing ones—including the Revised Penal Code, Labor Code, RA 7610, Anti-VAWC Act, Safe Spaces Act, and the Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers—must be completed within five years.
The Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino will serve as the lead translating authority, while the Presidential Communications Office will be tasked with publishing the translations both in the Official Gazette and online.
The measure is co-authored by Akbayan party-list lawmakers Percival Cendaña and Dadah Kiram Ismula, along with Dinagat Islands Rep. Arlene “Kaka” Bag-ao.
