By Tom S. Noda
Computerworld Philippines
February 3, 2010

It’s all back to ground zero for the Department of ICT (DICT) and Cybercrime bills as their chances of becoming a law were officially shut down in the Senate on Tuesday.

“I was informed no more bills will be taken up on the last session day of the Senate. It appears our journey has come to an end,” said Secretary Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua III, chairman of the Commission on ICT (CICT). “Thanks to all those who supported us along the way.  I guess it’s up to the next administration to pass our ICT bills.”

The Senate’s legislative calendar for the present administration officially ends today, February 3, but no more bills will be taken up.

Roxas-Chua, who was present in the Senate’s session on Tuesday, told members of the CyberPress club that it is “so possible” for the ICT bills to be approved if only the Senate chose to act on it.  “If only they want it approved, they can do it, right here and right now,” Roxas-Chua said.

The CICT chief said that of the various bills that were tackled in the Senate’s last eight sessions, there have been no developments on the ICT bills. He noted the Senate spent a significant amount of time on the C-5 issue linking presidentiable and incumbent Senator Manny Villar.

Villar, who described himself as the “brown taipan” in business circles, surprised everyone in the Senate on Tuesday with his privilege speech defending himself on the C-5 controversy. The episode, which was later dubbed as the “Villar Show” ate a lot of time in the Senate’s second to the last session on Tuesday, overriding the opportunities for pending bills to be passed.

‘UNSEEN FORCE’
Roxas-Chua said the DICT and Cybercrime bills were in the period of interpolation since last week but no developments took place. Many of the bills’ supporters expressed that an “unseen force” may have kept the ICT bills in the Senate hanging.

Besides countless presidential requests, the ICT bills earned fervent support from local ICT advocates and practitioners who, along with CICT, vowed to attend the Senate’s last nine session days since it resumed on Jan. 18.

Among the staunch supporters of the ICT bills are CICT, Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P), Call Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP) and the CIO Forum (CIOF).

Former CICT commissioner Dondi Mapa said that CICT itself could be in danger of getting abolished. 

“That same ‘unseen force’ may even cause the CICT to be abolished by the next president,” Mapa said. “Let’s just hope that whoever becomes president in June does not abolish the CICT.”

Only recently, supporters of the ICT bills said the one that hampered the DICT bill was the request for interpolation of Senator Mar Roxas who never interpellated on the bill since he registered for it in September 2009.

Reports said many government stakeholders saw the need for a Philippine DICT as it will help the country in becoming a world-class IT hub focused on the further development of ICT skills, e-governance, universal IT access, and building businesses around open source technology.

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