In May 2001, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) under the leadership of Vice-Governor Loreto Leo S. Ocampos embarked on the computerization of its legislative function through the acquisition of the “Legislative Management and Tracking System”. The “Legislative Management and Tracking System” or “Legtrack” as it is commonly called, is a software program developed as a tool to track, monitor and store communications, requests, proposed resolutions and ordinances, communications, Sangguniang Bayan Resolutions and ordinances from different municipalities and cities to be acted upon.

The System is a project of the League of the Vice Governors in the Philippines (LVGP) in cooperation with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The Provincial Government only spent SIXTY SIX THOUSAND PESOS (P66,000.00) for the cost of installation, airfare and accommodation of two (2) PBSP consultants and the training of five (5) SP personnel on its operation and application. Now, over a million worth of software program was given to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for free.

As a modern tool, its features and functions include but are not limited to the following:

• 1. It is a database of proposed and approved resolutions/ordinances of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan as well as those from other Cities and Municipalities of the Provinces, letters, memos, and communications.
• 2. It keeps track of the status of proposed resolutions/ordinances, petitions, requests and resolutions/ordinances from different Cities & Municipalities of the Province.
• 3. It automates the preparation of agenda, minutes, committee reports/referrals and legislator’s attendance and accomplishment reports.
• 4. It automates the arrangement of legislative enactments according to subject matter thus, avoiding the duplication of legislative measures;
• 5. It generates a paperless agenda into a Microsoft Word Format as well as an attached scanned PDF file. Each item in the agenda is hyperlinked when viewed on its full context;
• 6. Accesses the full text of resolutions, ordinances and minutes of the session in Microsoft Word Format.
• 7. It allows the access, viewing and printing of scanned attachments as supporting documents from the different cities, municipalities and other provincial, regional and national offices in PDF format.
• 8. It minimizes time spent on administrative tasks thus affording the staff more time for research, technical analysis and conceptualization of Resolutions & Ordinances that consequently impacts the lives of constituents of this Province.

The SP’s “Legtrack” can be considered as one of the most updated versions of the Tracking System used by different LGUs in the country. It also holds the distinction of being the first “Legtrack” to be synced to a Paperless Legislation Program.

The actual performance of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and its individual members can also be gauged through statistics on session attendance; committee meeting attendance; committee reports made, number of resolutions and ordinances authored, sponsored and passed.

Furthermore, the System upgrade/s enhances not only the intellectual capability of the Secretariat but also its technical competence in support to the Sanggunian’s Office vows to be responsive, active and sensitive to the needs of the people. It has undergone a total of seven (7) upgrades over the years.

To date, we are using almost all of its features with the exception of the endorsement files, records locator and implementation status.