THE PHILIPPINE ICT SECTOR TRAVELS BACK TO THE PAST

by Jocelle Batapa Sigue

This is the first part of my research on the history of the ICT sector in the Philippines and how presidential policies impact on the growth of the sector by their executive policies. This series of research is being doe to help the public understand the issue regarding EO47 which was recently the source of frustration of ICT stakeholders in our country today.

This time line shows how President Benigno Simeon Aquino III Executive Order No. 47 brought the Philippines back to 1994. And instead of continuing the development started by his predecessors in the ICT sector - EO 47 actually destroyed what has been built through time.

Below is a compilation of executive orders of each president in support of the Information and communications technology sector. It can be gleaned that since 1994 - with EO No. 190 of Fidel V. Ramos, the Department of Science and Technology is just a member of the National IT Council because of the extent of the ICT sector which cannot be covered simply by DOST single-handedly.

But today, EO 47, despite the upward trend of the ICT bodies through the years as a result of the executive acts of PNOY's predecessors from Ramos to Arroyo - gave little value to ICT and remanded the concern to be handled by a mere office and run by an executive director.

Since the time of Ramos in the National Information Technology Council (NITC) and theInformation Technology and Electronic Commerce Council (ITECC) under Arroyo - the said bodies were chaired by the presidents themselves. Notable to mention is that it is in fact the DTI and DOTC and not the DOST that played major roles in the councils which were forerunners of CICT.

This history can be still be re-written. In the chronology of things, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) should have come next. It is up to every ordinary citizen like you and me to re-write and correct this timeline and put the Philippines back on track again.

Next time, I will compare the mandate of the NITC, ITECC, CICT and ICTO as contained in the respective EO's to prove that EO 47 is a piece of document which content is much more ancient than EO 190 S. 1998 which created the NITC. This shows how the current administration, wittingly or unwittingly underestimates the value of ICT and the significance of the ICT sector in national development compared to how it was viewed by the past administrations.

ICT TIMELINE

Fidel V. Ramos
EO No. 190 Approving and Adopting the National Information Technology Plan 2000 and Establishing the National Information Technology Council (NITC) (July 19, 1994)
EO No. 468 Providing for the Creation of a National Council for the Promotion of Electronic Commerce in the Country (February 23, 1998)


Joseph Ejercito Estrada
EO No. 35 Directing the National Computer Center (NCC) to Design and Build an Integrated Government Information Infrastructure (GII) (October 26, 1998)

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 125
REVITALIZING THE NATIONAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL (NITC)
AND THE NATIONAL COMPUTER CENTER (NCC)

EO No. 264 ESTABLISHING THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ELECTRONIC COMMERCE COUNCIL (ITECC) FROM THE MERGER OF THE NATIONAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL (NITC) AND
THE ELECTRONIC COMMERCE PROMOTION COUNCIL (ECPC)

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 334
ABOLISHING THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ELECTRONIC
COMMERCE COUNCIL AND TRANSFERRING ITS BUDGET, ASSETS,
PERSONNEL, PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS TO THE COMMISSION
ON INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
EO No. 269 Creating the Commission on Information and Communications Technology

Benigno Simeon Aquino III
EO No. 47 Reorganizing, Renaming and Transferring the Commission on Information and Communications Technology and its attached agencies to the Department of Science and Technology as an ICT Office