The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has not formally announced it yet, but a new undersecretary and assistant secretary have been appointed at the agency by Malacanang.
Arnold “Ali” Atienza, son of former Manila mayor and now Buhay party-list representative Jose “Lito” Atienza, has been named undersecretary for government digital broadcast television and the digitalization of the entertainment industry sector. His appointment was signed by Pres. Rodrigo Duterte in November last year, according to a media relations executive of the DICT.
Lawyer Gerald James B. Reyes, on the other hand, was designated last January as the DICT’s new assistant secretary for administration, finance, and planning. Not much is known about Reyes apart from the fact that he was a former assistant secretary at the Department of Transportation.
At the same time, Emmanuel Rey “Manny” Caintic, a powerful but elusive figure at the agency, has also been promoted from assistant secretary to undersecretary for Digital Philippines.
The promotion of Caintic and appointment of Atienza brings to six the number of undersecretaries at the DICT, although Republic Act 10844 or the law that created the DICT, provides for only three undersecretaries.
The same law also mandates that at least two of the undersecretaries should be career officers. But among the six, only one – undersecretary for the national ICT assets index Denis Villorente – is a career official.
The same provision also applies to the post of assistant secretary – that two of the assistant secretaries shall be career officers. However, none of the current three assistant secretaries – Reyes, fellow lawyer Ivin Ronald Alzona, and former military man Vicente Cejoco – are career executives.
Except for the physics degree that Atienza acquired from the De La Salle University, it also appears that he and Reyes have scant or no experience in the ICT sector as required by RA 10844.
Under Section 11 of the said law, no person should be appointed secretary, undersecretary, or assistant secretary of the department unless he or she has at least seven years of competence and expertise in any of the following: ICT, IT service management, information security management, cybersecurity, data privacy, e-commerce, or human capital development in the ICT sector.
Meanwhile, the DICT said it has conducted its first orientation and onboarding program for its newly-regularized employees. The program was held on March 4, and was attended by 99 employees.
As of February 26 this year, 23 DICT employees were promoted and 105 more were hired as regular employees. Among these, 71 are job order personnel of DICT who were regularized.
Among the topics discussed during the program included information on DICT offices, code of conduct and ethical standards for employees, compensation and benefits, available learning and development programs, strategic performance and management system, online services for employees, ICT user support and troubleshooting, data privacy and compliance, and digital certificate/signatures.
“Being a relatively young department, we recognize our limitations as an organization and wish to improve upon them. This will ensure the efficient and effective implementation and delivery of DICT programs and services,” DICT secretary Gregorio Honasan said.
In addition, the DICT said it is also gearing up for its full regionalization across the country. There are currently only eight DICT regional cluster offices servicing the different provinces and regions in the country.
“The Department’s request to fully regionalize is already with the Department of Budget and Management, and we eagerly await their favorable action,” Honasan said.
