My unsolicited advice is for Senator Honasan to retain Acting Secretary Eliseo Rio as his Senior Undersecretary, and for the latter to continue serving the public in that capacity. For one to step up, there is no need for the other to step out. The nation will benefit from the combined skills of this good tandem. Two workhorses are better than one.

It will be a waste of talent if Rio, with his good credentials – double engineering degree holder, ECE board topnotcher, academic, and ex-general who has had 50 years experience in the field of telecommunications – will be let go.

He is good for one last tour of duty, at a crucial point in our nation’s life when important developments in the ICT sector are happening, including the authorization of a third telco—which must, like any public utility, be subjected to oversight and held to its promised deliverables.

Greg will be the third head of DICT in three years, or one per annum, a very fast turnover. The framers of the law did not envision a revolving door in the office of the DICT secretary. If Rio will stay, transition disruptions that usually follow the changing of the guards will be avoided.