DICT under the spotlight

Atin kung kakaluguran kanita a parating sasabing e ya kakampi kaninu man nung e maglibutad ya mu. Daig ne pa ing referee, ne. Makanyan man, abalu-balu mi atin ya pa mu ring kakampyan at e na mu buring ilantad ing nung kaninu ya papanig. Kamatutwanan pala, inya sasabyan nang ala yang kakampyan, uling agyang ninu palang kakampi kanaku e na buri.

Masakit, nung e man sapala, ing pamaglibutad mu kabud o ing alang kakampyan uling kaylangan tamung ipakit nung ninu itamu king panaun a kaylangan ing atin kang kampyan at e ka mu kabud maglilibutad kumwari. Lunto at lunto nung ninung kakabiran tamu.

Ing pamaglibutad kapagkumwaryan king katautwanan mu. At iti metung pangamakasarili. Kapagnasan ning taung maglilibutad ing mayap yang lunto kaninu man, karing makatud man o mali, mayap la man o marok. E malyaring ilako a ating pipagpilinang mayap at marok at sukat tamung pumanig sanu man kareti.

King kabilyan ning Bangsang Pilipinas, asasaksyan tamu na ing nung makananu ing kabilyan ning balen a pikawakawani pauli ning pulitika. Magparalampu ing panaun para king kelang-pamaglibutad at king malino mayayakit a pamangampi king metung mung mayap a talingdiking ning katutwan. E malyaring adwa la ring mayap a mi susumangi d.

Metung mu ing makatud at metung mu ing mali at akakit tamu ing bunga ning sanu man kareti. E ta malyaring ilingad keng tau o Dyos man. Dakal a kapanyiran kareng misusumangid a kutang pulitika. Alang alang makalibutad o makapilatan. Makanyan man, ing patune king nanu mang pamanyangkan malyari nang ilingad ning darapat kaniti kapamilatan ding awsan dang e tutung-balita.

Kaylangan tamu namang mamili nung sanu ing tutu at nung sanu ing kalaraman at ing makapaltutu ila pin ding patune o matibe katunayan. Nung ala yang apakit a katibayan ing ninu man, makananu yang panwalan agya mang asne kasanting o kasikan siwala king bulwagan ning kapanatulan. Nung atin ta mu mang patune, nung kalaraman la mu ngan a pitagpi-tagpi ba lang lunto katutwan, ala no mang ulaga deti.

Ing panaun tamu ngeni payntulutan nang makapamirait kapamilatan ding social media at deng mikampikamping kakampi keng sanu mang panig apipisaup-saup dang papakit ing kalaraman anting katutwan at ing katutwan anting kalaraman. Nanu man ing pamipaulaga ning ninu man mayayakit e king pamaglibutad nung e king nung sanu reng kakampyan na’t panal i gan.

EVEN before the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) was set up, there were doubts this new sector of the bureaucracy could address the country’s electronic information needs.

A little over a year after it was created, the DICT comes under the spotlight with the resignation of Secretary Rodolfo A. Salalima. In his letter to President Rodrigo Duterte last week, Salalima cited personal and world-related reasons.

But in his talk before DICT employees last Friday, he said he decided to leave because of “corruption and interference.” Following that statement, Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said Salalima should substantiate his claims of corruption.

The DICT has been in the news for its public hearings, the free public wifi on Edsa, and the single government portal. What other projects did it have to open it to possible interference?

After Republic Act 10844, the law creating the DICT, was passed, some in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector aired reservations over the wisdom of having the DICT.

The Information and Communications Technology-Davao Inc. said in a SunStar Davao article on May 26, 2016 that the DICT would just be “a new bureaucracy” when the industry’s main challenges are speed and the cost of broadband services and the solution should be a change in policy. The group asked then President-elect Duterte to put on hold the setting up of the new department because it will only be a “humongous bureaucracy” and it will “invade the mandates of other government agencies.”

The DICT creation pushed through when President Duterte named lawyer Salalima, a former schoolmate and official of Globe Telecom, as DICT secretary.

I was one of those who turned hopeful with the creation of the DICT as the electronic information and communications needs of Filipinos are becoming more complex and widespread. The matter of communications fell under the old Department of Transportation and Communications. I knew it as a wise move to separate transportation and communications.

I wrote in May last year how, with the far-reaching potential and numerous challenges of the information superhighway, the internet, and mobile communications, the creation of this separate government agency was timely and apt. The department’s mandate is to be the primary policy, planning, coordinating, implementing and administrative entity of the executive branch of government that will plan, develop, and promote the national ICT development agenda.

The DICT law covers not only the ICT sector like telecommunications companies and equipment manufacturers, but also those in the ICT-enabled services sector that includes business process outsourcing and call centers. The DICT is too important an office to be swayed by corporate or political influence. The office has to remain independent of pressure inside or outside of government in order to protect ICT consumers and encourage growth in the sector.