The 43 information and communications technology (ICT) councils represented by the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP) commended on Tuesday, June, the Senate for passing on third and final reading the consolidated bill creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
In their second quarter executive meeting in Cebu, NICP officers and board of directors took notice of the passage of bill on June 1, Monday, and expressed gratitude to the Senate by way of a unanimous resolution, lawyer Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, current board member and former chair of NICP said.
Batapa-Sigue, who leads the Bacolod-Negros Occidental Federation on Information and Communications Technology (BNEFIT) who heads NICP?s policy committee, said by creating the DICT, programs related to ICT will now be cascaded to all regions, cities, and provinces in a more efficient, inclusive and equitable basis.
Currently, the NICP, which is chaired by Rosemarie Quinto-Rey of Legazpi ICT Council, serves as the recognized primary, private-sector led, and unifying advocate for countryside ICT industry development.
Quinto-Rey said the passage of the DICT bill will greatly bolster the initiatives that have been started by local stakeholders in promoting their locations for local and foreign investments and balanced development and sharing of information and best practices.
Created in 2008, NICP is composed of ICT councils representing local stakeholders in the key cities and provinces of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Voting for the resolutions are Rey, Batapa-Sigue, Jun Sa-a of the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (CEDFIT), Jessraf Palmares and Joeven Tansi of the Iloilo Federation for Information Technology (IFIT), Efren Daniel De Leon of the ICT@Bicol Council, Raymund Diaz of the Digital Innovation Cluster Economic Development ? (DICED) ? Sarangani, Wilson Manalo of Pangasinan ICT Council, Samuel Matunog of ICT Davao, Inc. (IDI), Antonio Del Carmen of Laguna Industry Network for Knowledge, Innovation and Technology Foundation (LINK-IT) and Bernardino Custorio, Technology of Information and Communications in Koronadal (TICK).
NICP also passed a separate resolutions calling for the passage of the Freedom for Information (FOI) and Free Public Wi-Fi bills and immediate implementation of the Data Privacy Law.
