Technology News From The Philippines
Among the questions hurled on DICT secretary Ivan Uy at the committee level hearing was the appointment of Jose Vicente “Jovy” Salazar, the controversial former chair of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), as undersecretary of the DICT.
Called eTravel, the new website can be accessed at etravel.gov.ph and unifies all different systems and paper forms of different government agencies when travelling including the controversial One Health Pass which inbound passengers must accomplish when entering the country from abroad.
The Department of Finance said the proposed law will level the playing field between digital and traditional businesses, especially those that cannot shift to the digital platform.
The Philippines still has a long way to go in improving its digital competitiveness as it ranked 71st out of 131 economies in the annual Network Readiness Index (NRI).
Northern Samar representative Paul Ruiz Daza noted that the funds were originally allocated for the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to provide 105,000 free public Wi-Fi hotspots for P12 billion.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian urged the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to ensure that it would hit its target in rolling out Internet connection in public places, including educational institutions.
Fans of online shopping and Netflix may soon find themselves shelling out more than the usual after the House of Representatives on Monday, Nov. 14, approved on third reading House Bill 4122 which imposes tax on digital transactions and subscriptions.
Despite the public being constantly warned over the years, many hapless Filipinos continue to be duped by fake and phishing websites and other online scams that proliferate in the Internet.
