ICT Dept essential for PHL tech sector growth —Angara

The upcoming Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) will hold the key to a vibrant ICT sector by promoting its growth and boosting the country's economic development, Sen. Edgardo Angara said Friday.

 

Angara, who chairs the Senate committee on science and technology, noted the telecommunications sector will be one of the key infrastructure industries that can help the country achieve 7-10 percent growth in the next 10 years.

 

“ICT is only getting more embedded into our everyday lives. This only enhances the multiplier effects of developing its sector and all other industries that are enabled by it. I am convinced that a DICT will be essential in ensuring that the benefits of ICT become all the more far-reaching and transformative,” he said.

 

Angara had authored and sponsored Senate Bill 50, which reorganizes the communications-related agencies of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) into the DICT.

 

The bill was passed on third reading in the Senate before Congress went on a one-month break. A counterpart bill has been approved in the House of Representatives.

 

However, the measure will still have to undergo bicameral conference before it is transmitted to Malacañang and signed into law.

 

Many stakeholders, such as the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP) and the Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc.  (FCCCII), have expressed support for the establishment of the ICT agency.

 

“Clearly, segments that explicitly deal with ICT such as the IT-BPO [Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing] industry will benefit from a DICT,” said Angara.

 

“But the benefits of the vibrant use of ICT extend well beyond these sectors and can boost other areas like agriculture, public health, education and disaster management and risk reduction,” he added.

 

He also noted Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates recently made the call for a digital revolution against hunger, where remote sensing technologies are used to gather crop information useful to farmers.

 

Also, advances in ICT have already made telemedicine possible, where doctors are able to diagnose and even operate on patients that are oceans away.

 

E-learning is fast becoming an alternative way to gain top-notch education from anywhere in the world, he added.

 

“Countries like Japan are using the proliferation of cellphones and smartphones as the foundation for early-warning systems against natural disasters,” Angara said.

 

“Some of these things are already being rolled-out in our country. But the establishment of the DICT improves the chances for these developments to take root, blossom  and flourish in our country,” he said.  — TJD, GMA News