No reason for Senate to reject DICT this time -- IT execs

By Lawrence Casiraya - INQUIRER.net

Although the bill is still at its early stage, two industry executives see no reason for senators to stall further the creation of an ICT (information and communications technology) department in government.

The Senate committee on science and technology discussed at a hearing today a bill filed by Senator Loren Legarda proposing the creation of an ICT department. The hearing was attended by representatives from various private sector groups.

Unlike previous versions of the bill filed at the Senate, Oscar Sanez, Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) chief executive, sees more support from different industry groups this time.

"Before, there was not as much consensus and some may have seen the idea (of a DICT) as one that was too early. But many things have changed," Sanez said via phone interview when asked for comments by INQUIRER.net.

BPAP, which represents the country's business process outsourcing or BPO industry, has sent an endorsement letter to the Senate committee supporting the DICT bill.

Sanez said other countries have gone ahead in creating similar state ICT agencies.

"ICT has become a global measure of a nation's competitiveness and there is higher importance (of ICT) now than ever before," he said.

The creation of DICT, he said, spells good news for an industry like BPO, which relies heavily on ICT-related policies.

"For BPAP, it shows that the government is doing something to ensure infrastructure is there," Sanez said.

Bettina Quimson, Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) head for government relations, is likewise hoping a DICT will finally be created before the year ends.

"Even Vietnam has its own department and look at what they have achieved since," she said in a separate phone interview.

PSIA, which represents the country's software industry, is likewise endorsing the bill and is part of the private-government technical working group tasked to refine the bill further to address specific areas.

"What this shows is that there is no single agency in government right now to address all these IT functions," Quimson said, noting the participation of the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the working group.

The working group will have 45 days before convening again.

"All the parties involved are sort of listening to different perspectives at the moment," said Sanez of BPAP. "But it's the senators pushing the DICT bill that will make a difference."