By Anthony Ray Roxas-Chua III
May 29, 2009

June is upon us and that can only mean one thing: it is time to celebrate National ICT (Information and Communications Technology) Month! It was just over a year ago that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed Proclamation No. 1521 declaring the month of June as National ICT Month, and this is the second year we are celebrating it. While we cannot call ourselves a technological powerhouse quite yet, we have been quick to embrace ICT and have greatly benefited as a result.

We have seen how ICT has made our world smaller by enabling us to communicate with one another from anywhere in the country. Our telecommunications industry is thriving and the number of mobile subscribers continues to grow. According to global messaging company Acision, the Philippines had 66 million mobile subscribers as of year-end 2008 and was once again the text messaging capital of the world with 2.36 billion text messages sent during Christmas and New Year. Mobile phone service has become so ubiquitous that anyone who wants it can pretty much get it, and many people actually have more than one mobile phone.

We have seen how ICT has improved the lives of our fellow Filipinos by creating high paying jobs. ICT has enabled our business process outsourcing (BPO) industry to emerge as one of the drivers of the economy, contributing US$6 billion of export revenue in 2008. The industry currently employs approximately 400,000 workers and continues to grow amid the current global economic crisis. BPO workers include not only call center agents, but also software developers, medical transcriptionists, lawyers, accountants, animators, engineers and even game developers. This sector has so much opportunity that I hope more parents will encourage their children to pursue ICT-related college courses.

We have seen how ICT has enabled talented Filipinos, such as Charice Pempengco and Arnel Pineda, to stand out in the global community. Unfortunately, while we have become global leaders in some areas of ICT, we have dramatically fallen behind in many others.

Broadband penetration continues to be a major challenge with the country having a total broadband subscriber base of less than two million out of a population of 90 million. Many Filipinos still have not experienced the World Wide Web despite the many empowering benefits of going online. Many factors are working against us, including broadband coverage, cost of PCs and connectivity, lack of local content and lack of awareness of the benefits.

The ICT readiness of the Philippine government has slipped in recent years, falling from #41 to #66 in the United Nations E-Government Readiness Index, and from #18 to #45 in the Web Measure Index in 2008. Part of the problem is the lack of a strong ICT body, such as a Department of ICT. In ASEAN, we are among the few countries that do not have a Ministry or Department dedicated to ICT, alongside Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam all have a Ministry of ICT. There is a proposed bill creating a Department of ICT approved by the House of Representatives and currently under deliberation in the Senate, but with the campaign period fast approaching, we are quickly running out of time.

Our country’s cybercrime legislation remains sorely lacking despite our central role in the dissemination of the ILOVEYOU virus around the world in 2000, causing billions of dollars of damage. Identity theft, online fraud and cybersex, including sex video scandals and cyberprostitution, are on the rise and there is very little we can do about it. There is a proposed Anti-Cybercrime Bill currently under deliberation in the House of Representatives and the Senate, but we have a long way to go and very little time.

But do not be discouraged. The CICT remains as committed as ever to effectively leveraging ICT for national development. This month we are embarking on a Cyber Corridor Roadshow to promote job opportunities in the BPO sector and increase awareness of ICT in key cities in President Arroyo’s Cyber Corridor Super Region. This odyssey will take us to Cebu, Laguna, Cavite, Davao, Lipa, Bacolod, Bulacan, Pampanga, Cagayan de Oro and Iloilo. We hope you can join us in one or more of our roadshow stops.

Lastly, in celebration of National ICT Month, I encourage you to go out and do something geeky this month: buy a new gadget, buy something online (meeting up to transact does not count), start your own blog, join social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter, learn how to use Skype or set up your own Wi-Fi network.

Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone. Besides, we’ll be doing it, too.

Roxas-Chua is the chairman of the Commission on ICT.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Collaboration Agenda
• Hot Communications Trends in 2010
• Green Computing: A Corporate and Individual Undertaking
• Online Visibility
• Dealing with Rejection

 Print This Post