Sen. Bam Aquino said he is “considering” — apparently through a sponsorship of a bill — a department-level body that will oversee the state of Internet in the country.
Presently, Aquino said several government agencies — Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) — focus on the issue of Internet in the country.
“We should put all of these functions together to a department that corresponds to the information age that were in right now,” Aquino said.
At the same time, Aquino also called on the NTC to chart a roadmap that will lead to a “faster, cheaper, and more Internet availability for more Filipinos.”
“The NTC should be empowered to create this roadmap for better services for Filipinos because there is a lot of public interest here. That’s where I think the collaboration can be better so we can see this roadmap forward,” Aquino stressed.
In a television interview, Aquino called on stakeholders to work together to make sure consumers get what they’re paying for and give them the best Internet service possible.
“It’s about getting all the groups together. In the Philippines, all of our major problems only get solved when everyone comes together to solve it,” said Aquino.
“We need to really work together to make sure consumers get what they’re paying for and get to a place where their Internet is really functioning at a satisfactory level or the best level possible,” the senator added.
Aquino said the momentum of the country’s economic growth, which is the largest in the Asean region, would be for nothing because of the poor and expensive Internet service.
“We have the highest growth in the whole Asean. We’re going from developing to developed country in the next ten to fifteen years. We cannot do that with poor Internet service,” Aquino emphasized.
