This week’s signing into law of the bill creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology is one of the last acts of the Aquino administration over which we are tempted to ask “why only now?” Still, this is so much better than seeing it stuck in the legislative mill as it has been these past few years.
The DICT will promote ICT development, institutionalize e-government, and manage the country’s ICT environment. The new department will be the primary policy, planning, coordinating, implementing, and administrative entity of the Executive Branch of the government that will plan, develop, and promote the national ICT development agenda, according to the letter of the law.
The wait has been overdue. ICT’s has increasingly played a central role in the country’s economic development. Unfortunately, these concerns tended to be relegated to the sidelines when put alongside transportation concerns under the Department of Transportation and Communications.
Three undersecretaries and four assistant secretaries will provide support to the department secretary. All of them have to be licensed professional electronics engineers with at least seven years of experience in the ICT sector. This requirement would guarantee that appointments to the post wold be based on merit and expertise, not political or connections or personal affinities. Aside from being technical experts, however, they would have to be practical managers and decision-makers as well.
The next six months will see the transfer of functions, assets and personnel. This coincides with the transition into a new administration which has promised to deliver change, big and small, in all aspects of governance.
Perhaps it could start by whipping into shape local internet service providers that have been giving customers slow, unreliable and expensive internet connectivity. Customers have been suffering this for years, finding themselves with no choice because the current provider’s competitor is just as bad.
Despite the terrible service, Filipino internet users—and there are millions of them—have managed to advance their businesses, improve their research, make government transactions a little more efficient and transparent, be aware of what happens beyond borders and even earn the reputation of being one of the most active social media users in the world. Filipinos, after all, are known for their resilience, in making do with what they have.
What we see on social media, of course, is not everything. Online presence is hardly an indicator of the internet penetration rate, estimated at 43.5 percent this year. A bigger portion of the population has never used a computer, much less the internet, in their lives, even as knowledge that would come from being wired would immensely improve the way they live.
Of course, it is one thing to acknowledge the country’s need for good ICT services. It is another thing altogether to adequately address this need.
