congress

The House of Representatives also approved House Bill 10329, which would institutionalize a program for the integration of digital technology and innovation in public basic education.

One of its key provisions is the creation of an independent body to be known as the eHealth Policy and Coordination Council.

The House of Representatives also passed on third and final reading House Bill 7425, which imposes value-added tax on digital transactions.

During the hearing, deputy speaker Bernadette Herrera said the DICT lacks disbursements plans on their Spectrum Users Fees (SUF) fund, reportedly at 23 percent in the previous years.

The R&D budget in the 2021 General Appropriations Act is currently at 0.47%.

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”.

Once the project gets the go-signal, the modernization efforts are scheduled to take at least eight to 16 weeks.

The Better Broadband Alliance (BBA) has sent a letter to House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and Senate President Vicente Sotto III, BBA to urge the passage of two key policy reforms to improve telecommunications and Internet services.

The DICT expects the government to save P720 million in Internet subscription expenses in the first year of implementation of the NBP or up to P34 billion in the next five years.

One of the proposed measures is House Bill 6646, which creates a Bangko Sentral Digital Peso (BSDP) as a medium of exchange or as money for use on all digital and means.