DICT

The first Electronic Business Processing and Licensing System (eBPLS) in Mountain Province was launched in the Municipality of Bontoc last July 1.

Of the 31 cities launched as part of the Digital Cities Program in June last year, nine cities -- Balanga, Batangas, General Santos, Iligan, Legazpi, Puerto Princesa, Taytay Rizal, Tuguegarao, and Zamboanga -- completed their five-year roadmaps.

The DICT has also partnered with Microsoft to create a learning portal where civil servants and Filipino workers can take asynchronous, instructor-led and blended online courses focused on content guides for specific digital roles.

The PNPKI digital signature is a new requirement of the Comelec for all public school teachers who will serve as Electoral Board Members.

The learning portal is a free service that contains training modules that aims to reskill and upskill civil servants to allow them to pursue career advancement opportunities and also to enhance key public services.

The DICT is seeking to reclassify spectrum users fees (SUF), which are collected annually from telcos, from Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) to “capital outlay”.

Former DICT undersecretary Eliseo Rio Jr. refuted on Tuesday, June 1, the statement of the DICT claiming that Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) technology provides cheaper and faster Internet to remote areas of the country.

Despite the huge budget totaling almost half a billion pesos, former DICT undersecretary Eliseo Rio Jr. pointed out that the project is for 1,035 sites only and will run for just a period of five months.

ARTA chief Jeremiah Belgica said government offices can subscribe to the Philippine National Public Key Infrastructure (PNPKI) of the DICT to generate e-signature.

The government said it will relaunch the multi-billion Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) after it crashed due to the sheer number of Filipinos wanting to register during its launch last April 30.