Angara: Gov't info and comm tech department would benefit BPO industry

A bill creating a Department of Information and Communications Technology should be signed into law this year or in the earlier part of 2013, said the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, Senator Edgardo Angara, speaking at the opening of the 8th International Contact Center Conference and Expo at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City on Sept. 17, said that the creation of a separate department focusing on the IT sector is what the IT-business process outsourcing industry had been waiting for. The IT-BPO industry generated $11 billion in revenues and employed approximately 640,000 people in 2011, according to reports. According to an industry roadmap, the industry is seen to provide high-paying jobs to 1.3 million Filipinos, and to become a $25-billion industry by 2016. However, the bill still has some hurdles to face. Creating an information communications and technology (ICT) department has never been among President Benigno S. Aquino III’s priorities. Furthermore, according to Manila Standard Today, Science Secretary Mario Montejo was reported as saying in an executive forum organized by the Management Association of the Philippines on Aug. 6 that an ICT department may no longer be needed. New ICT laws At the conference, Angara also noted the important ICT-related legislations signed this year. "The Data Privacy Prevention Act and Cybercrime Prevention Act had already been signed into law. One more to go. I hope the government gets its acts together," said Angara. Aquino signed Republic Act No. 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, into law by on Sept. 12. Its signing closely followed the approval of RA 10173 or the Data Privacy Act, a law that requires the protection and preservation of personal data collected by public agencies and private organizations. "We need that [DICT] for guidance of the industry. I hope it could be signed if not next month, next year," Angara said. The senator also said that if that happens, the government could be credited for signing into law three very important bills for the IT-BPO industry. House Bill 4667, the measure creating DICT, was passed by the House late last year. Meanwhile, the Senate passed on the third and final reading in February Senate Bill 50. The industry had been waiting for the consolidation of the two bills. — Shaira Panela/BM, GMA News