Achievements: Manila Digital Divide. Is Aquino afraid of ICT, or his Boys?

You can read the full article by following this link:

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/242587

Snippets taken from the article written by Frank A. Hilario


MANILA - In the digital world, a Downgrade is an abomination, while an Upgrade is in fact an affirmation. With Philippine ICT, Senator Edgardo Angara wants an Upgrade; President Noynoy Aquino orders a Downgrade, so now we have The Manila Digital Divide - if you're not with IT, you're against IT.

When it comes to power, let me put it this way:
A Commission has influence; an Office is under the influence.

Remember, the Commission was under the Office of the President - to downgrade the Commission right after that monumental announcement by the Commission is more than just deleting a website the day after its existence was announced to the world with much fanfare - it was digital suicide. After 24 hours of exposure in the knowledge universe, you sent your own website, folders and all, to the Recycle Bin?!

If those ICT Boys don't know much about the role of information and communications technologies in getting a Third World country like the Philippines to a First World status, what have they been doing with their office-issue Internet-ready laptops?

If those ICT Boys don't appreciate what Angara is saying that the ICT Department "will play a central role in ensuring that the country's business process outsourcing (BPO) industry will continue to expand and generate employment," have they just been emailing their friends?

If those ICT Boys don't know that the Philippines, Myanmar and Timor-Leste are the only countries left with no ICT Departments of their own, have they just been tweeting away their Internet time?

If those ICT Boys don't know that the BPO industry in the Philippines can surpass the remittances from the overseas Filipinos within 5 years, have they just been socializing via Facebook?

If those ICT Boys don't know that the BPO sector is currently worth US $9 billion and employs about half a million Filipinos, with the potential to grow to $25 billion by 2016 employing 1.3 million, have they just been blogging away their insecurities?

If those ICT Boys didn't know that the country has just celebrated the National ICT Month in June ending with the release of the Philippine Digital Strategy under the leadership of the ICT Commission, have they just been monitoring the status of the President by watching him on YouTube?

If those ICT Boys think of ICT as only so much Facebook and Twitter, IBM and Dell, Nokia and Blackberry, what have they been doing in Internet forums?