TECH COMMITTEE CHAIR SEN. ANGARA SAYS, CICT DEMOTION A WRONG MOVE
[PHOTO - In the International Conference of ICT and Sustainable Development at the New World Renaissance Hotel in Makati City, Guest Speaker Senator Edgardo J. Angara underscores the importance of technology in rural development, urging the government to provide technological support to farmers in the form of digital villages where they can access the internet for real-time information on the prices of fertilizers, pesticides, wheat and rice.]
MANILA, JULY 5, 2011 (STAR) By Marvin Sy - Senate committee on science and technology chairman Sen. Edgardo Angara criticized the decision of President Aquino to "demote" the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), which he said sends the wrong signal to the ICT industry.
Reacting to the President's issuance of Executive Order 47, which renamed the CICT to the Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO), Angara warned that it could negate the gains already made in the ICT and even the business process outsourcing (BPO) industries instead of pushing them further ahead.
He lamented the effects of the EO, including its transfer as an attached agency of the Office of the President to the Department of Science and Technology and the change in the title of the agency's head from chairman to a mere executive director.
The CICT was previously headed by a chairman, who holds the rank of Cabinet secretary, but now with the new ICTO, it would be headed by an executive director, who carries the rank of undersecretary.
"ICT is a sunshine industry with enormous potential for investment and job generation. It deserves no less than a Cabinet portfolio. This is an ironic move that sends the wrong signal to the industry about how much or how little we prioritize ICT," Angara said.
Angara has been pushing for the creation of a Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and filed a bill for this purpose in the present 15th Congress.
During the 14th Congress, the House of Representatives passed the bill but the Senate was unable to pass its counterpart bill.
Angara said the IT and BPO industries support the creation of the DICT, which he said would serve as a one-stop shop for their needs and concerns.
"The industry is at a crucial juncture and the DICT could help sustain its growth to bolster the economy," he said.
According to Angara, the IT-BPO industry raised $9 billion in revenues last year and produced 530,000 new jobs.
The Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) has projected that total employment in the sector would go up to 1.3 million and revenues to $26 billion by 2016.
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