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Members of the House of Representatives have proposed the creation
of a Department of Information and Communications Technology, a move
that is seen to split the Department of Transportation and
Communications.
Speaker Prospero Nograles over the weekend said
the proposal will ensure focus on increasingly complex global
technologies.
“Our future would depend on our
competitiveness and grasp of modern technologies. Almost everyday,
the new breakthroughs are announced in the IT [information
technology] field. New technologies are becoming more compact but
are more powerful and we have to be at pace with [them],” Nograles
added.
House Bill 4300 was authored by the chairmen of
three committees: Joseph Santiago (Government Reorganization), Erico
Basilio Fabian (Information and Communications Technology and Edcel
Lagman (Appropriations).
Santiago and Fabian said the proposed department
will promote, develop and oversee the information-technolgy systems
and ensure reliable and cost-efficient communications facilities and
services in the country.
They added that the bill will also also promote
technical training to enable Filipinos to compete in the information
age.
A special account in the general fund called
e-government fund will be created to be administered by the proposed
department and may be augmented by donations, contributions and
grants from local or international funding agencies.
The proposed department will absorb all
operating units existing in the Commission on Information and
Communications Technology, National Computer Center and all offices,
services, divisions, units and personnel of the existing
Transportation department.
It will also take over the National
Telecommunications Commission, Philippine Postal Corp. and
Telecommunications Office.
-- Sammy Martin
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