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IN this day and age when everyone in whizzing along the Information
Highway at breakneck speed it is one of the great ironies that in
the Philippines this vitally important industry that is the wave of
the future is regulated more or less like some type of adjunct by
the Department of Transportation and Communications that—in this
age of the computer— many believe still exists in the era of the
typewriter.
So it will be of some relief for all those who
spend some part of the day (or as in many cases much of the day)
glued to cyberspace that the House of Representatives has approved
on second reading a bill proposing to install a totally new
department that would look after and advance the country’s
information and communications technology (ICT) sector.
The bill defines ICT as “the aggregate of all
electronic means to collect, store, process and present information
to end-users in support of their activities.”
Within the umbrella of ICT comes computer
systems, office channels and consumer electronics. It also includes
networked information infrastructures—the components of which
include the telephone system, the Internet and satellite/cable
television.
Under the bill, the new Department of
Information and Communications Technology (DICT) would be spun off
from the DOTC, and all existing offices dealing with communications
would either be built into or attached to the DICT.
These will include the National
Telecommunications Commission and the Philippine Postal Corporation.
The National Computer Center, now assigned to the Department of
Science and Technology, would also be ceded to the DICT.
“The DOTC’s administrative and
jurisdictional foundations can no longer cope with the rapid
advances in ICT. Thus, the need to establish a wholly new,
full-grown department to deal with ICT matters exclusively,” says
Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago, chairman of the House committee on
ICT.
Santiago’s panel, together with the committee
on appropriations chaired by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman and the
committee on government reorganization chaired by Zamboanga City
Rep. Erico Basilio Fabian, previously endorsed the bill.
Under House Bill 4300, Santiago believes the
DICT would ensure the provision of strategic, dependable and
cost-efficient ICT infrastructures, systems, and resources as
instruments for nation-building and global competitiveness.
Santiago, former chief of the NTC, said the new
department would “promote a policy environment of fairness, broad
private sector participation in ICT development, and balanced
investment between high-growth and economically-depressed
districts.”
He said the DICT would likewise be mandated to
ensure: the accelerated development of convergent networks of ICT
facilities; universal access and high-speed connectivity at fair and
reasonable cost; ample ICT services in areas not sufficiently served
by the private sector; widespread use and application of emerging
ICT and a strong and effective regulatory system;
In addition the bill also provides for adequate
consumer protection as well as free and fair competition, ensures
abundant human resources for ICT development and makes available
incentives to grow ICT industries;
The key area of protection of the right to
privacy and ICT support for culture, education as well as public
health and safety is also assured in the legislature.
bizzfizz_98@yahoo.com
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