Now is the time for an Information and Communications Technology Department

The re-launch of the website of Office of the President has been one of the first projects of Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III as president. In the refurbished site, the online team of P-Noy has transformed the rather dull website to a more comprehensive online portal, engaging readers to send oaths and messages to the president himself. One by one, other executive departments followed suit, upgrading the quality of information and service that their respective websites offer.
Indeed, it is clear that the government is starting to accept the reality that Internet plays a big role in public service. Websites nowadays not only function as an information hub but also as a means of communication between government officials and the public.
The current organization of the executive branch, however, is not sufficient to push for a revamp on how the government utilizes new media. If the administration is serious in strengthening the status of information and communications technology (ICT) in the country, it must lobby for a creation of a separate department that will handle this field.
In 2004, through Executive Order (EO) 209 of Former President Gloria Arroyo, the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) was created. It was formed to handle the “information technology and communications” projects of the government including the development of reliable and cost-efficient facilities and services related to new media and information technology. The said EO, however, stated that the CICT will be a temporary commission under the Office of the President while a law to create a “more effective” Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is still under consideration in the Philippine Congress.
Six years later, the creation of DICT remains elusive as the Philippine Senate failed to pass its version of the bill before the end of the 14th Congress. This, despite the appeals of several groups and Arroyo herself in her 2009 State of the Nation Address for the immediate passage of the law.
A week after the inauguration of President Aquino, a group of technology experts led by now CICT Chairman Ivan John Uy urged the president “to push for a national e-governance policy” that will strengthen the services of the government by using the Internet as a tool. In a Philippine Daily Inquirer article published on July 6, Uy, then president of Chief Information Officers Forum, said that central to this policy is the creation of DICT or at least the empowerment of the existing commission (CICT).
Retaining and empowering the current commission, however, is not the best move for the vision of the Aquino administration to strengthen the information and communications technology of the country.
In the past, CICT faced issues on its operations that led to four restructurings under the Arroyo administration. The first two was about the transfer of several agencies such as the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) under the CICT to the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC). Bureaucracy operations issues were cited as the reason of the transfer since it is unusual for a commission (NTC) to operate under another commission (CICT). The last two Executive Orders, however, repealed the earlier transfers and returned NTC, along with other communication agencies, to CICT. In an Inquirer interview, however, then CICT Commissioner for cyber services group Monchito Ibrahim said that “the NTC will remain independent from CICT’s operations”, thus retaining the blur on how CICT will function over other communication commissions such as NTC.
It is imperative, therefore, for the Aquino administration to push for the creation of DICT to remove operating confusions such as this. National Information and Technology Communications Confederation of the Philippines Chairperson Jocelle Batapa-Sigue also said in an article that the creation of the DICT will finally create a permanent entity that cannot be easily modified without the passage of another bill. This is in contrast to what happened in the Arroyo administration where an EO can easily change the structure of the current CICT.
A department will also maximize the capability of the administration to pursue projects related to ICT.
The creation of a department focusing on managing the information and communications technology will be beneficial to the development of the country. Aside from empowering the government’s utilization of information technology, DICT will also work on ensuring the availability of ICT in areas not served by private sectors.
Some of the functions of DICT mentioned in the proposed bills in the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 14th Congress include the assessment, review and support ICT research and development programs of the government; assisting in development of guidelines of the Intellectual Property Office in enforcing rules on ICT usage; promotion of ICT education throughout the country and representation of Philippine interests pertaining to ICT in international bodies.
The last one is a very important provision since it may prevent scandals such as the NBN-ZTE deal in the future. In an Inquirer article published in September 2008, former CICT Chairman Virgilio Peña said that lack of government capability to evaluate technology projects such as the National Broadband Network led to problems such as “government procurement, especially those dealing with sophisticated projects in ICT.” Creation of a department with the knowledge to handle such contracts could prevent the events that led to the scandal.

DICT poses a lot of possibilities to the Philippines as it enters a new era of governance. If President Aquino is serious in his attempt to use the ICT as an empowering tool for his administration, he must not stop in refurbishing his website. He must also move for a greater scheme such as the creation of a department focusing on information and communications technology.




Sources:
Create the Department of Information and Communications Technology before the elections. Techie.com.ph. http://www.techie.com.ph/press-releases/create-the-department-of-information-and-communications-technology-before-the-elections
Executive Order 269. http://www.lawphil.net/executive/execord/eo2004/eo_269_2004.html
Ho, Abigail. More groups seek creation of infotech dep’t. Inquirer.net. http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view/20100118-248085/More-groups-seek-creation-of-infotech-dept
House Bill No. 4300. http://www.congress.gov.ph/download/billtext_14/hbt04300.pdf
Montecillo, Paolo. Gov’t experts seek creation of ICT body. Inquirer.net. http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view/20100706-279603/Govt-experts-seek-creation-of-ICT-body
Oliva, Erwin. NBN deal revisited: Is ICT know-how lacking in government? Inquirer.net. http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view/20080917-161246/NBN-deal-revisited-Is-ICT-know-how-lacking-in-government
Oliva, Erwin; Villafania, Alexander. NTC transfers back to CICT. Inquirer.net. http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view/20090107-181943/NTC_transfers_back_to_CICT
Ordonez, Cheng. EO 454 won't control, gag media: telecom officer. Sun Star Zamboanga. http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/zam/2005/10/20/news/eo.454.won.t.control.gag.media.telecom.officer.html
Senate Bill No. 2546. http://www.senate.gov.ph/lisdata/81047327!.pdf
Villafania, Alexaner. Arroyo renews call for an ICT department. Inquirer.net. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view/20090727-217476/Arroyo-renews-call-for-an-ICT-department
Website of the Office of the President of the Philippines. http://www.ops.gov.ph/
Website of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology. http://cict.gov.ph/



Personal Narrative
I planned to work with the topic on creation of an information technology and communications department. I wanted to write an article supporting the said idea.
I started working with this article on a memory of a recent story about people urging the new president to push for the creation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). I browsed in the website of the Philippine Daily Inquirer for the said story and then looked for the related articles.
I found a good compilation of news articles (in Inquirer sections such as info-tech and business) regarding the campaign for the creation of such department since the earlier days of the Arroyo administration. This is where I found out the background of the existing Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT). The first question that popped into my mind is why do we need a department if we have an existing commission doing the same thing?
I started looking for the weaknesses of CICT, looking for articles and reading the Executive Order that created it. This is where I found out about the re-structuring and the limitations of the said commission, thus a need for an executive department.
In writing the article, I started with the efforts of the current administration to strengthen their utilization of the Internet, which is evident in the recent re-launch of the Office of the President’s website. I then focused on explaining the need for a department instead of just a commission.
I spend time reading the bills proposed in the 14th Congress of the House of Representatives and the Philippine Senate regarding the creation of DICT. I used some of what I think the most important functions of the department in my article to strengthen my position in the issue.
I also found an interesting article from the Inquirer about the NBN-ZTE scam and its relation to a lack of a government body such as DICT. I included this in my article as well because I realized that the creation of the said department could also be a factor in alleviating issues of corruption through projects such as the broadband deal.