FEB

2015

The Importance of a Department of Information and Communications Technology

1st General Membership Meeting
INFOCOMM TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION OF THE PHILIPPINES (ITAP)

Thank you for that kind introduction, even if midway through your spiel, I was wondering if you were describing me or someone else.

When I got hold of your invite, the first impression that came to mind is that I will be speaking before a group of geeks. Or because you’re in the IT world, make that rich geeks.

But that stereotype was shattered the moment I stepped into the room and saw it full of Mr. Grey and Miss Steele lookalikes.

And should you view me, on the other hand, as a representative of an institution which should be flogged and whipped into doing something, I don’t blame you.

For it is true: What is slower than Internet speed in this country is its Congress at work.

The way legislators pile up the provisions of a law is like seeing Tetris pieces falling into their place – in slow motion.

But that is the way laws are made here, in deliberative fashion because the prose of legislation has far-reaching effects.

Take for example the words “may” and “shall”: the former is an option, the latter an obligation. Many parliamentary battles have been fought over their usage.

If you want to water-down a bill, use “may”, which is the best diluting agent in the legislative vocabulary. If you want to make something a mandate, then “shall” is it.

And please don’t forget the other reason: Congress passes laws the crowdsourcing way. It’s a coliseum of editors fine-tuning a manuscript.

In the case of the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the end is near. Or in IT terms, we are on the last mile.

In the lower but bigger House, the bill creating the ICT, I was told, is being readied for plenary debate.

In the smaller but better house, we plan to bring it to the floor, hopefully before Holy Week, or we flagellate ourselves for having failed to do so and not as penance for watching Mr. Grey and Miss Steele.

The idea is to finish the work in both chambers of Congress before June, and bring it to the President’s table for his signature before he delivers his Mi Ultimo Adios of a SONA.

I am gung-ho about the prospects of the DICT bill because it had hurdled the crucial phases of legislation in the past, like being passed by the House and the Senate, only to flounder in the last minute for lack of time.

It is one of those “Groundhog Day” bills, that predictably goes through the legislative wringer every Congress only to stall in the final round for lack of one final push.

This time, the leadership of both houses of Congress, led by the Speaker and the Senate President, has committed to bring it to the President’s table–and this is where we need your help.

We need a “broadband” to move the presidential pen. By broadband, I mean a broad band of groups who can create a large vocal constituency to push for its passage.

Actually, the constituency which stands to benefit from the bill is the whole country itself.

From the homemaker who Skypes with her OFW husband, to the college student who streams a TedTalk video on Youtube, to the motorist who has to Waze himself out of traffic jams, to the small factory owner who has to teleconference with his customers abroad.

From the mayor who has to rely on Project NOAH updates during storms, to the entrepreneur who has to do e-banking, to the taxpayer who must rely on a virtual map in navigating the labyrinth of bureaucracy.

From the jobseeker who trawls “help wanted” ads online, to the backpacker on the hunt for cheap plane tickets, to the BPO manager who must remain competitive in a cut-throat environment, to the fish broker who has to track online his tuna shipment.

Yes, even to the leader of an intrepid group of men who has to fire a staccato of “need evac, fire support” text messages.

And if there’s one graphic example on the big role of ICT in society, it was provided by the Mamasapano incident.

When we in the Senate started to piecing together frame by frame so we can come up with a “seconds from disaster picture” the narrative of debacle, the first thing we asked for were the SMS records of those involved.

We didn’t request for a record of ordinance used or troops deployed. To us, text messages were the best forensics tool; that by piecing them together like puzzle pieces, we can get the whole picture.

In combat, our brave men, their bullets gone but not the fight in them, spent their last moments as cellphone subscribers, asking for “load” so they can reiterate their request for help which never came and sending messages to their family to reaffirm their love which will never waver.

Kaya doon sa umpukan namin sa Senado, napagkwekwentuhan namin na kahit pala sa gera, hindi na radio ang gamit pero cellphone.

At may kaakibat pa itong tanong: Sa panahon ng “unli calls” bakit text ng text, kung “unli” naman ang tawag?

That snapshot of one aspect of the ICT infrastructure is one of the reasons why a Department of Information and Communication Technology is needed.

There are more cellphone subscriptions than Filipinos today. 110 million accounts versus 105 million souls.

As of the latest count, the fixed and mobile broadband penetration rate is 20 percent, which means 20 million of us, or about two times the population of Greece and five times the number of inhabitants of New Zealand, have access to it.

The number of Filipino Facebook users, I think, is past the 30 million mark. This should prompt Mark Zuckerberg to start greeting us “Happy new year” in Tagalog.

We’re the texting capital of the world. In Metro Manila, millions of “WRU na” text queries are sent every day which in turn are promptly replied by millions of “Traffic pa, wait lang u”.

A Filipino may not have food in his stomach or money in his pocket but there’s always a cellphone holstered somewhere so when he boards a bus which advertises “Wi-Fi” onboard , he can blast politicians in social media as a way of letting off steam when he’s marooned in traffic.

But more than these, ICT is putting people to work, taxes in government coffers, and money in the economy.

Income from outsourcing — the BPOs, the call centers, the back offices, medical transcription, game development, creative process outsourcing — is projected to reach $25 billion or 8 percent of the GDP next year.

According to Peter Wallace it is the third largest source of dollars after electronics and OFW remittances. And even in the case of OFWs, ICT — Skype, FB — is a needed social stabilizing force which salves the pain of separation.

On the government side, we are now living in the electronic republic, where views of the sovereign are advocated online, and services must be rendered to them on the same platform.

A government which spends P2.5 trillion a year needs ICT to get more bang out of the buck, and prevent bribe from being squeezed out of the peso.

If the taxes are reimbursed to us through the budget, in form of services, then the rebate can be delivered online too.

Permits, licenses, land titles should now be electronically-applied for, processed and issued. Let us leave to the MRT the exclusive franchise of organizing long lines.

Sa ibang bagay, wala na dapat pila. When we don’t allow our people to transact business at the click of a mouse, or touch of the screen, we’re putting them at the mercy of the rats who profit on bureaucratic inertia.

As the Wallace Report has succinctly put it, “IT will dictate human lifestyles, drive industries and shape society” in the years to come.

In the Philippines, broadband is emerging to be the third utility after power and water.

It also has the potential of being a growth driver. Every 10 percentage point increase in broadband penetration is said to boost the GDP by 1 percent.

But to avail of these benefits, we need to address ICT infrastructure, ICT affordability and ICT usage, three benchmarks in which the Philippines ranks low.

To respond to the above challenges, we need a main server so to speak to attend to the multiple requirements and respond to the many challenges – and that, my friends, is the DICT.

We need an agency which will spur ICT development, institutionalize e-government, and manage the country’s ICT environment and direction.

To criticisms that the creation of a Department of ICT is a manifestation of that government disease to mutate agencies and multiply regulation, then let me tell you that such has no basis.

I think it was Reagan who said, “If it moves, government will tax it. If it keeps moving, government will regulate it. If it stops moving, government will subsidize it.”

In the case of the DICT, only a person who stills sends a telegram, summons friends via Pocketbell, and nurses a Friendster account may waiver on backing its creation.

The need is here and now.

Even from the point of view of streamlining bureaucracy, efficiency is hampered by the alphabet soup of agencies hovering above ICT. If mergers is a private sector virtue, then why can’t it be government’s?

We need to consolidate the disparate agencies into one, without–and this is my condition–creating a huge bureaucracy, or burning a deep hole in the taxpayer’s pocket in the process.

It must be revenue-neutral, marked by an appropriations status quo. It must be a lean organization and not another behemoth.

With this assurance, we will calm the fears of those who have reservations about the bill, that the DICT will just be another fat-layered bureaucracy.

With this guarantee, plus provisions that will enshrine stakeholder consultation in the programs of the DICT, I hope that you will holler a loud shoutout for the measure.

Or even a simple text to the gents in Congress and Malacanang which reads: “’Mama pasa n’yo na’ the DICT bill” please.

Thank you and good day to all of you.

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