Press Release
August 6, 2008

ANGARA SEES PASSAGE OF BILL CREATING DICT WITHIN A MONTH

Senator Edgardo J. Angara today sees that the bill seeking to establish the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) will be passed within a month.

Speaking before the public hearing of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, Angara said that the same legislative proposal has been approved on second reading in the House of Representatives and third and final reading is expected in a week's time.

"This is the final meeting of the committee after we thoroughly discuss the amendments made by the Technical Working Group on the scope of the bill in terms of coverage of agencies with ICT functions as well as the approved budgets. I hope that within the month or within September, we will have a new Department of Communications," said Angara.

He added, "As you know, the House already approved it on second reading. They have not done it on third and final reading which is required. But I suppose, third reading is almost ministerial for them. So, if we get it done, if we get it passed within the month, or at the very least the first two weeks of September, we can get it finalized by both Houses by the end of September."

Under Senate Bill 920, DICT will assume the communications-related powers and functions of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) and will absorb the following agencies: Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) currently under the Office of the President, the National Computer Center (NCC) under the DOTC, the Telecommunications Office of the DOTC, and the Communications Planning Service division of the DOTC.

"More or less, that will be our timetable. And I'm citing the timetable because we want to catch the budget cycle for 2009. The house is already debating the 2009 budget and it is expected to go up in Senate by the end of November. We'll have time to catch it," Angara said.

Recognizing the great potential of ICT to create wealth for the country, Angara underscored the need to form a permanent entity that would promote the utilization of information and communications technology, and effectively coordinate and implement national and local ICT services.

"For instance, the Digital Village project which will enable rural farmers to use the Internet to access information on prices of goods, land records, weather forecasts, local government database and other agricultural knowledge support - thereby boosting their agriculture productivity - has been dragging on for years. This is largely due to the lack of coordination among agencies with ICT functions," he said.

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