Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda has filed a bill in the Lower House declaring the sorry state of internet connectivity in the country as a national emergency and granting President Duterte emergency powers for two years to address the problem.
House Bill 9161 titled “Internet Speed and Connectivity Emergency Act of 2019” aims to allow the President to use all government resources, perform executive actions unhampered by existing laws, regulations and procedures to solve the poor situation of internet communications in the country.”
Salceda said with emergency powers, the President should be able to streamline regulatory procedures related to the development and improvement of internet infrastructures, including construction of cell sites or cell towers and installation of related facilities to achieve optimum cell site density relative to an area’s population size and geographical configurations.
The proposal allows the President to exercise “… police power, employ executive actions and measures to ensure the effective implementation, reconfiguration and harmonization of national and local government projects intended to address the internet speed and connectivity crisis… ”
