Legarda Supports Creation of Department of Information and Communications Technology

SENATOR LOREN LEGARDA OFFICIALLY EXPRESSED HER SUPPORT FOR THE BILL CREATING THE DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (DICT) NOW PENDING IN THE SENATE.
In a co-sponsorship speech delivered at the Senate session today (September 14) for Senate Bill No. 50, which seeks to create the DICT, Legarda said the proposed measure addresses the need for a clear policy framework and a lead agency that will promote, develop and regulate this sector in order to help transform the same into a powerful tool in creating jobs, enhancing government efficiency, and improving the economy.
Legarda noted that information technology has increasingly become a strategic commodity among nations.
“The rise of ICT spawned competition for information access, thus making the gap between nations that have access to ICT and those without access, making ICT a determining factor in the fate of economies,” she explained.
Legarda added that technological advancements produce greater advantage in facilitating market transactions, making countries with better access to them more competitive than those which have less.
“In our case, the Philippines’ ICT sector, though promising, is struggling to contend with those of more technologically advanced countries,” Legarda concluded.
The DICT, once created, shall assume the communications-related powers and functions of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).
DICT shall be the primary policy, planning, coordinating, implementing, regulating and administrative entity of the executive branch of the Government that will plan, promote and help develop the country’s ICT sector.
Among the agencies that will be under DICT under the Senate proposal are the National Computer Center (NCC); Telecommunications Office (Telof); all operating units currently existing in the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT); and all operating units of the DOTC with functions and responsibilities dealing with communications.