The most prominent issue to come out of Honasan’s two-year run as DICT head was when former undersecretary Eliseo M. Rio Jr. resigned from his post in February 2020 and questioned the disbursements of P300 million in agency’s confidential funds.
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.
The appointment of Ali Atienza and promotion of Emmanuel “Manny” Caintic brings to six the number of undersecretaries at the DICT, although Republic Act No. 10844 or the law that created the DICT, provides for only three undersecretaries.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) will be providing tablets, laptops, and units of pocket Wi-Fi to San Juan City to be used by students for online learning.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson made the statement after DICT Gregorio Honasan II remarked in his agency’s budget hearing in Congress that the country’s Internet speed is “not so bad” at 3 to 7Mbps.
A week after criticizing an assistant secretary of the DICT for apparent lack of concern on a proposed integrated contact tracing platform, former undersecretary Eliseo Rio Jr. took another swipe at the top officials of the agency for not acting on a crucial document for a broadband project in the country.
The new designation is seen as an attempt to make DICT undersecretary Eliseo M. Rio stay in his post and to allow him to stamp his authority over Honasan’s “tres amigos” who have been running the show at the DICT.
In a joint statement with undersecretary Eliseo M. Rio Jr. on Friday, Feb. 7, DICT secretary Honasan denied that Rio mentioned any anomaly in the disbursement of the intelligence fund of the DICT.
The Central Business Portal, which will be fully operational by February 14 next year, covers business transactions under the SEC, but is envisioned to also cover the DTI and even the BIR.
