IT experts leaving RP for greener pastures

By: Alfred P. Dalizon - Journal online
GOVERNMENT computer experts have left their offices for greener pastures abroad or multi-national companies that give them six-digit salaries a month.

“That’s the sad fact, once na-train na ang mga government employees natin, they say goodbye dahil maliit ang suweldo,” said Senior Supt. Gilbert C. Sosa, head of the Anti-Transnational Crime Division of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

He cited as an example a dozen government employees who were trained by Microsoft in 2005.

“Sad to say, umalis na sila sa gobyerno to get higher-paying jobs that gives them a minimum of P120,000 a month. Kami na lang mga pulis ang natira,” Sosa said.

Sosa is one of the six EnCase Certified Examiners who are PNP officers and men themselves. The others are Chief Insp. Ariel T. Ilumin, Inspectors Enrique C. Burdeos, Levy V. Lozada and Jorge M. Meneses and non-uniformed personnel Nerissa B. Salcedo. They got their diploma from the international Guidance Software after demonstrating proficiency in computer forensics and the EnCase methodology of examining digital evidence. They completed the EnCE testing program in March 2007.

He told the Journal Group that there is little evidence to prove that the Chinese government was ‘spying’ on the country through its websites. He said the so-called ‘Ghostnet’ did not identify the Philippines as among the diplomatic and government offices in Southeast Asia where research had detected an intelligence gathering operation involving 1,295 compromised computers.

“Purely speculative na kasama ang Pilipinas,” he said.

Sosa said Republic Act 8792 or the Electronics Commerce Act of 2000 failed to address cyber crimes enumerated in the Budapest Convention on Cyber Crimes of 2001.

Telcos: No such thing as free SMS, not even in the US

While willing to discuss text rates, telecommunications companies are balking at a recent announcement that government wants to make text messaging free, saying this implies that telcos were unduly pricing the service when they were not.

"Reports have cited Verizon, a major US mobile carrier, as offering 'free' text messaging. A check with the Verizon website shows that the service being offered is not 'free' text messaging but unlimited text messaging. The unlimited SMS offer is part of their monthly service plans, the lowest priced of which costs US$59.99 or roughly P2,400 a month," Smart Communications Inc. spokesman Ramon Isberto said in a recent statement.

Unlimited text messaging is already available in the Philippines, he added.

"SMS rates in the Philippines are already among the lowest in the world. While the standard rate remains P1 per message, Philippine operators, including Smart, now offer many different text and call packages that have drastically reduced the effective price of SMS from 10 to 20 centavos per message or even lower in the case of unlimited text packages," he said.

Globe Telecom Inc. SVP Atty. Rodolfo Salalima agreed in a separate statement.

"While we do not take it from government to feel their concerns for the mass public, we need to sit down together (to discuss rates).... In Australia the cost per text is P2.4, in Malaysia P1.07, in China P1.55, in Taiwan P4.25, in Europe it ranges from P15 to about P25," he said.

As for lowering text rates, Salalima said the price of one text message was now only about 13 centavos because intense competition has driven telcos to offer promos.

He added that there was a public service aspect to the service, and if telcos were forced to make it free despite the heavy investment required to cope with data traffic and to improve quality of service, then text messaging may not be sustainable.

Digital Telecommunications Phils. Inc., operator of the Sun Cellular mobile brand, likewise said that text messaging was already very cheap in the Philippines.

"The fact that it is being contemplated to make it free or lower prices implies there is an impression that it is expensive. But in fact we are among the lowest especially when we count the promos. Of course, we can discuss this better if we get a formal policy or statement from government," Digitel SVP William Pamintuan told reporters recently.

But the NTC said it has already come up with twin circulars proposing to trim charges not only for text messaging but for voice calls as well. It has also announced that it will hold a public hearing about the proposed rates this week.

NTC wants to slash the access charge (also known as the interconnection charge) for text messaging between different operators (Smart to Globe, Sun to Smart, etc.) to 15 centavos from 35 centavos. This would put the charge at par with the current 15-centavo access charge for two brands using the same network (Smart to Talk n' Text, Globe to TM, Sun to Sun).

NTC believes that cheaper access charges between networks would drive down the price of text messaging from the nominal rate of P1.

As for voice calls, NTC wants access charges for off-network activity (Smart to Globe or Smart to Sun, and vice-versa) to go down to P1.50 from the current P4.

Telcos have declined to comment on the specific rates, saying they have not received a copy of the circulars. By Riza T. Olchondra - Philippine Daily Inquirer

Nograles eyes lower texting service rates

HOUSE Speaker Prospero Nograles yesterday assured the public the House of Representatives is giving priority to lowering the cost of telecommunications in the country at least during these difficult times.

In a statement, Nograles appealed to telecommunication providers to repay the subscribers who have given them billions of pesos in profits by lowering the cost of their services.

The Speaker said the Lower House is dead serious on rationalizing telcos operations in the country in order to bring down the cost of communication services particularly “texting” that is putting additional strain on the day-to-day budget of Filipino households.

Nograles has already instructed the House committee on Information and Technology chaired by Rep. Joseph Santiago to revisit Republic Act 7925, otherwise known as the Public Telecommunications Policy Act of 1995.

The move aims to find out possible amendments to bring down the cost of telco services particularly texting, which has become an essential communication tool among Filipinos including the poor.

Nograles said that RA 7925 may have “spoiled” the telcos with the removal of the 12-percent ceiling on return of investment and the 3-percent franchise tax on gross receipts which he said, could have made the costs of telco services more reasonable.

“The removal of the cap gave telecoms too much discretionary opportunity to maximize profit as they prey on the eager Filipino texters,” he said.

Based on estimates, Nograles said that texting in the Philippines should be only at 25 centavos per text or should even be made free.

Nograles also asked Santiago’s committee to review a measure filed during the 12th Congress which would compel telcos to stop overcharging their customers on the so-called “per-minute” basis on voice calls.

Mobile phone service providers should only charge their subscribers on “per six seconds of usage” and should be compelled to issue billing statements even for pre-paid subscribers, Nograles said.

The practice of telecoms companies of charging their subscribers on a per-minute basis instead of the actual length of calls should be considered as a business malpractice and this should be immediately corrected, the Speaker added. By: Jester P. Manalastas - Journal online

IT industry groups revive push for DICT bill

An organization representing private stakeholders in the Philippine Internet commerce industry recently revived the push for a proposed measure creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

Philippine Internet Commerce Society (PICS) president Mary Anne Tolentino told INQUIRER.net Wednesday that the group wants to revive the DICT bill this year because it got sidetracked by other issues, such as the controversial national broadband network (NBN) project and recently the rice crisis.

Tolentino also acknowledged in an Internet chat interview that the Philippine Computer Society has also sent its own letter supporting the passage of the bill.

Last March, the Senate called for a public hearing on the bill creating the DICT. But the hearing might have been bumped off by the ongoing Senate inquiry on the NBN issue.

The March 11 public hearing was organized by the Senate committee on science and technology headed by Sen. Edgardo Angara but was canceled for unknown reasons. Incidentally, March 11 was also the day the Senate Blue Ribbon committee revealed its "surprise witness" in the person of ZTE Corp. technical consultant Leo San Miguel.

Several bills were filed with the Senate proposing the creation of the DICT, which would ideally oversee government ICT activities and policies. Currently, the Commission on Information and Communications Technology is acting as an interim body to the planned DICT.

Senators Angara and Loren Legarda are among the senators supporting the bill.

Legarda said last year that she filed creating the DICT. She made this announcement during a meeting of the Philippine Internet Commerce Society.

Legarda said that the country needs a department on ICT because this is a "need of the future," noting that the country is lagging in the development of the IT industry due to lack of a department solely focused on this booming industry.

The DICT is seen to set government policies and oversee government IT projects.

The House committee on information and communications technology has also been pushing its own version of the DICT bill. By Erwin Oliva - INQUIRER.net

LTO on 96th year launches two IT-aided programs

By Riza T. Olchondra - Philippine Daily Inquirer

The Land Transportation Office (LTO) marked its 96th anniversary on Thursday with the launch of two technology-aided innovations.

The LTO on Thursday signed a memorandum of agreement to interconnect its vehicle registration database with the Bureau of Customs' (BOC) payment database for imported vehicles.

The interconnection will enable the implementation of a second program, the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Project.

Under this project, registered vehicles will be issued RFID stickers that store vehicle data, including such details as whether it has an authenticated certificate of payment from the BOC and whether it complies with registration requirements such as low smoke emission.

For public utility vehicles, the RFID tag will also contain its franchise details from the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

LTO chief Alberto Suansing said that aside from improving compliance, the interconnection and RFID projects are expected to help improve revenue for the agencies involved.

"Millions of pesos in potential government revenue are lost annually due to non-compliance with vehicle registration requirements," he said, adding the projects will help plug tax leakages.

Top ICT innovators cited

Ten information and communication technology (ICT) companies were cited Tuesday at the close of the e-Services Global Sourcing Conference and Exhibition for excellence in their field.

The 10 awardees were Advance World Systems and Media Farm (Outstanding Client Application of the Year); Tech Factors, Total Transcription Solutions and Navigator Systems (Outstanding Consumer Application of the Year); EMR Global and Next IX (Groundbreaking Technology of the Year) and; Transprocure, Pointwest Technologies and PeopleSupport (Most Progressive Homegrown Companies).

Trade and Industry Assistant Secretary Felicitas Agoncillo-Reyes, who is executive director of the Center for International Trade Exhibitions and Missions, said the awards were intended to highlight the contribution of IP creation to the growth of the Philippine offshoring and outsourcing industry, particularly in animation and game development, back office business process outsourcing, contact centers, software development and maintenance, and transcription.

Among the finalists were companies engaged in developing homegrown automated teller machine systems, training applications, and back office systems.

Reyes said the e-Services Awards were established in 2001 to encourage local ICT firms “to push the limits of their creativity and innovation through healthy competition.”

This year’s international board of judges included Tholons Southeast Asia president Paul Santos, Headstrong country manager Nora Terrado, ICCP Venture Partners Inc. director Gerry Valenciano, Philippine Trade and Investment Center-New York trade officer Josephine Romero, and XMG Inc. research manager Benedict Ferrer. INQUIRER.net

Phone viruses to spread as telecom, computer worlds merge

BARCELONA, Spain--Viruses and hacking on mobile phones are still rare but attacks are a looming danger as increasing numbers of people access the Internet and download files with their handsets, experts say.

A survey released this week at the industry's Mobile World Congress showed that only 2.1 percent of people had been struck by a virus themselves and only 11.6 percent knew someone who had been affected by one.

The poll by IT security specialist McAfee, based on 2,000 people in Britain, the United States and Japan, showed that 86.3 percent had had no experience of mobile phone viruses.

The survey did suggest however that the more developed the mobile market is, with high use of the Internet and downloads, the more likely people were to be hit by bugs.

Virus attacks in Japan, the most developed mobile phone market in the world, were far more commonplace than elsewhere.

"We should look at places like Japan which is where the future of mobile technology is," said Graham Cluley, a consultant at Sophos, another IT security firm.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we saw this problem growing because the phone is going to grow into a sort of mobile computer."

The website www.mobilephoneviruses.com, which tracks incidents of mobile virus infections, lists a handful of examples such as Skulls, Velasco and Commwarrior.

The latter infected about 110,000 phones in Spain last year, attacking phones running Nokia's Symbian operating system. It spread via MMS messages, text messages containing an audio, video or picture file.

"Viruses aren't a huge issue now but they have the potential to be so in the future when Internet use is more widespread," said a telecom analyst at the Forrester market research company, Pete Nuthall.

The industry is keen for phone owners to use their handsets for more than just calls and texting -- for which profits are declining in developed countries -- with Internet and video, games and mapping the basis of new product offerings.

"It's a risk that we should be aware of but one shouldn't make it dramatic and worry people," said Emmanuel Forgues from Russian IT security group Kaspersky. "But it's a risk that exists and is certainly going to develop."

"There are few viruses that attack the operating system now. What people are looking at is how to propogate viruses," Forgues added.

One use of a virus would be to implant something in a user's address book for publicity or fraudulent purposes, for example.

Cluley said there were about 350,000 viruses written to attack computers running Microsoft Windows and about 200 known ones for mobile phone operating systems.

Computer viruses were now being written by organized crime gangs to steal money and personal information, while mobile phone viruses "have tended to be written by kids to show off," he said

A 12-year-old boy wrote a virus for the new Apple iPhone which disables it, "turning it into a brick," said Cluley, and a user had to go to the boy's Internet site and download some software.

This crude bit of malware, which could not spread from phone to phone, was said to be an upgrade for the iPhone's operating system.

At French network operator Orange, a spokesperson explained that "with the convergence of the worlds of IT and telecoms the threat is going to get more and more serious.

"What interest developers is that their viruses spread as much as possible," but the company added that telephones used a number of different operating systems at the present time, make this difficult.

Nuthall predicts that "it'll take one big public mobile phone virus attack to create alarm."

In the future, he expects the network operators like Orange to provide protection to their clients.

"You'll end up seeing operators selling bundled services which include a McAfee solution, for example," he said. Agence France-Presse

Cyber City Teleservices,

Cyber City Teleservices, Inc. is paving the way in corporate citizenry among Clark locators.

Aside from already spending huge amount of money in sponsoring and training Philippine delegation to the annual Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) World Cup in the past years, it is now helping form a SIFE groups among local schools in Pampanga and Angles City.

This came about as Cyber City chief operating officer Almerita Leung -- a Capampangan herself -- noticed that local schools have not participated in past SIFE regional or national rounds.

I had the chance to cover SIFE World Cup in New York City last year where Cyber City Senior EVP George Sorio was one of the judges. From what I witnessed I could tell how students from around the world can bring about change in their respective communities through outreach or livelihood programs.

SIFE establishes student teams on university campuses. Faculty advisors lead these teams, and they are challenged to develop community outreach projects that reach SIFE's five educational topics: Market Economics, Success Skills, Entrepreneurship, Financial Literacy, and Business Ethics.

Congratulations Cyber City. You are doing a great job in making today's youth more aware of their social responsibilities.

Baguio stripped from Cyber corridor

INFORMATION Technology (IT) industry players have delisted this mountain resort city as one of the primary IT and call center hubs in the country due to the lack of sufficient telecommunication infrastructure which would guarantee continuous service to their foreign and local clients.

This was disclosed by Trinidad Trinidad, executive director of the Baguio-Benguet Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (BBCCII), who added that it is now time for government to come out with appropriate measures to attract telecommunication investors to come to the city and put up the needed facilities for advanced IT operations.

Post here your Valentine's Day greetings

She added IT and call center companies expanding their operations in the Philippines prefer to go to Cebu, Davao, Clark or Subic because of the presence of three or more service providers which could guarantee uninterrupted service to their clients in the other parts of the world.

In the city, only the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and sister company Smart Telecommunications provide telephone lines for call centers.

Trinidad said the delisting of the city is a big setback to the repeated pronouncements of national and local officials that the city is fast becoming the IT and call center hub of the North.

While business in the city remains in good shape despite the economic slow down in the US and the unabated oil price increases, Dennis Sy, president of the Baguio Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BFCCI), said government, both national and local, must adopt appropriate programs and projects which are designed to boost investor confidence in areas like Baguio City so the desired economic growth in the areas outside Metro Manila could be achieved.

In the case of Baguio, businessmen have time and again prodded local officials to pass the local investment plan to serve as a plus factor for prospective investors to infuse capital in the local scene especially in the telecommunication industry where the city is fast falling behind.

Trinidad said IT and call center companies have helped in providing employment to thousands of locals but the delisting of the city could affected the economic gains the city has achieved over the past several years.

Ironically, telecommunication companies are having second thoughts of infusing billions of pesos in improving their facilities to cope with the advancement of technology because of alleged huge capital needed due to the mountainous terrain and the rather low return of investment because of a small market. (DS)

No room for ‘personal agenda’ in gov’t IT projects

By Erwin Oliva - INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines -- If there’s any advice that the outgoing president of the Information Technology Association of the Philippines (ITAP) could give to government officials implementing large information technology projects, it is this: “Set aside personal agenda.”

Cynthia Mamon, outgoing president of ITAP, lamented the continued misuse of government funds in recent mega-IT projects, including the Commission on Elections' voided automated counting machine project and the aborted National Broadband Network (NBN) project of the Department of Transportation and Communications.

Mamon who is also president and managing director of Sun Microsystems Philippines (SunPhil), stressed that projects like the NBN are good if government policies and processes, such as those identified in the government procurement law, are followed.

The IT executive acknowledged that the inconsistent implementation and varied interpretations of the current government procurement law have led to failed government IT projects.

She said that government IT projects could follow the example of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, which has successfully implemented a long-term modernization program and has improved the agency’s operations.

“(Government IT projects) should have real, authentic objectives that set aside any personal agenda or motives or even the desire for personal enrichment,” she added.

IT projects can be successful with better cooperation between government and the private sector, she added.

She suggested that while agencies are expected to be accountable for IT projects, there should be another agency focused on just monitoring the impact and the success of government IT projects.

2008 US home-based IT spending valued at $52B

2008 US home-based IT spending valued at $52B


By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines -- Who says small can’t spend big?

America’s home-based businesses are forecasted to spend as much as $52 billion in IT and telecom services, according to a study by AMI-Partners.

“The home-based business is rapidly becoming a significant sector that vendors need to pay attention to,” said Antara Jaitly, senior analyst at AMI. “More people may look to operating a home-based business as a means to supplement their income or fulfill personal aspirations.”

Home-based businesses (HBBs) can be considered a subset of the larger SMB market.

According to AMI estimates, HBBs account for about 15 million PCs. IT spending alone this year is expected to reach more than $32 billion.

These HBBs plan to spend on a wide array of hardware, software and telecom-related products and services ranging from PDAs and smart phones to PCs, printers, software applications, security and storage products and high-speed broadband services.

Vendors such as HP, Microsoft and Dell resonate well with these HBB owners, AMI's study shows. Google, meanwhile, scored high marks in online services.

The HBB market in the US has exploded with service-oriented businesses.

The Internet has played a pivotal role, spurring an increase in the use of websites and Internet-based electronic marketplaces such as eBay, which have enabled small service-focused businesses -- as varied as consulting, staffing, travel and catering -- to flourish.

“With median HBB annual revenues equaling $62,000, HBB revenues are 30 percent more affluent than the median US household income of $48,200,” Jaitly said.

He added there is a distinct HBB psyche, which is a synthesis of the owner profile, buying power and formation drivers.

“For marketers, understanding this psyche is critical to effectively targeting this segment,” he said.

Clark BPO firm secures tax incentives

NCO Philippines Clark Inc., an information and communication technology company has bagged tax incentives and other perks from the Board of Investments (BOI), the agency said Wednesday.

The firm’s project involves the establishment of a 340-seat contact center facility with total investment of P150 million at the Philexcel Business Park, Clark Freeport in Pampanga.

The investment covers the Information Technology equipment, leasehold, furniture and fixtures and pre-operating expenses and working capital. This new contact center will generate 425 job opportunities at full capacity.

NCO said the facility will provide services like technical support, customer support, directory assistance, and outbound credit and collections.

“The computed investment cost per seat is $3,364 [excluding working capital at P44 to a dollar], which complies with the Board of the Investments minimum requirement of $2,500 cost per seat for call-center projects,” the company said in its application letter to the BOI.

The company’s market includes US outsourcing companies like AT&T, Aegon, Citicorp, Microsoft and Amazon.
--Katrina Mennen A. Valdez - Manila Times

RP IT industry clamoring for ICT department--SunPhil exec

RP IT industry clamoring for ICT department--SunPhil exec


By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net


MANILA, Philippines -- If it’s going to take a “miracle” for a proposed bill creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), then so be it, the outgoing president of the Information Technology Association of the Philippines (ITAP) said.

Cynthia Mamon, also president and managing director of Sun Microsystems Philippines (SunPhil), said the local IT industry is still clamoring for the creation of a department that would champion ICT in government.

“We in the IT industry are united in supporting the development of the ICT industry. One thing we’ve been clamoring for is the creation of the DICT. We feel that without a strong, fully funded authority in IT -- a champion -- it would be very difficult to push IT as a competitive strategy,” Mamon said.

Mamon stressed that if the Philippines wants to become globally competitive, the local ICT industry needs a “focused” government leadership as well as a physical and human resource infrastructure to help develop the industry.

The outgoing ITAP president lamented that corruption continues to mar ICT projects in government, citing the voided P1.3-billion computerization project of the Commission on Elections and the recent and controversial National Broadband Network.

The House committee on information and communications technology has created a technical working group to work on consolidating several bills proposing the creation of the DICT.

The House ICT the committee is chaired by Catanduanes Representative Joseph Santiago. Representatives Luis Villafuerte was named chair of the technical working group.

The proposed department of ICT hopes to oversee all ICT projects and activities in government. Currently, the CICT has been created by the Office of the President as an interim body to the planned department.

Similar bills creating the department of ICT were pushed in previous Congress. One was House Bill 3218, which was filed under former Congressman Simeon Kintanar (2nd District, Cebu) in the 13th Congress.

CIOs cite ICT procurement problems, issues

By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines -- The Chief Information Officers Forum (CIOF), an organization of CIOs from government and private institutions, identified concerns that delay the implementation of IT projects in the Philippines.

Those fail to succeed due to procurement issues are government projects related to IT or modernization. During a recent roundtable discussion on government procurement, some member CIOs pointed out reasons for such delays and came up with various papers citing the problems as well as coming up with suggestions to improve procurement.

The group met as part of the Information Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) project, a joint activity of the Department of Science and Technology and the Canadian International Development Research Center. Its main goals are to bring together theses and case studies on the use of ICT for development and get policy recommendations and experiences.

During his presentation, Angelo Timoteo Diaz de Rivera, director general of the National Computer Center and officer-in-charge of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology, pointed out that failed bids, delay in the release of funds, project modifications, change in project management and problems with service providers are among the main reasons why government IT projects are often delayed.

In most cases, these projects are recipients of millions of pesos from the e-Government Fund, a government-managed funding service dedicated to improving the government’s processes and speeding up services via the use of modern communications systems such as the Internet and mobile technology.

In his report, Diaz de Rivera revealed that between 2003 and 2006, P4.57 billion were released from the e-Government Fund for 36 projects. However, only five have been completed, namely the modernization system for the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Social Welfare and Development, as well as several projects for the sub-agencies of the Department of Science and Technology. The rest of the projects funded by the e-Government Fund are still ongoing, 14 of which are suffering delays due to procurement problems.

Diaz de Rivera also noted several concerns about procurement of ICT projects from the e-Government Fund, primarily the difficulty in preparing proposals. Another problem is the lack of support from other government agencies that also want to conduct their own IT projects.

Even when a budget is approved, procurement still remains a problem. Diaz de Rivera said there were issues of validity of fund utilization, incomplete release of budget from the Department of Budget and Management, difficulty in drawing up technical specifications without mentioning brand names, as well as difficulty in preparing terms of reference.

In fact, Diaz de Rivera drew up a longer list of reasons why projects are delayed or fail even when the budget has been approved.

In fact, the main reason for such delays is lack of project management skills, according to Duke Eustaquio, who heads business development at the Development Bank of the Philippines Data Center Inc.

In his presentation, Eustaquio noted that IT projects fail because of the misconception that new IT systems and the “end-all” solutions, adding that improving the business process of an organization must therefore be the focus of an IT system implementation.

Eustaquio said the use of an information systems strategic plan (ISSP) should be necessary to guide any institution on implementing IT projects.

“Implementing an IT system is not easy. Engaging the services of a Project Management Office (PMO) should therefore be one of the first activities in planning the implementation of an IT Systems project,” Eustaquio said.

Eustaquio advised that the project management team should come from another government agency to ensure that government interests are protected, because using project management teams from the private sector would only add another layer that the government needs to check, monitor and audit.

Some agencies still bid out their Internet connectivity requirements every year but Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) CIO Ma. Esperanza Espino said that Internet connectivity should be treated as a utility in the same manner as telephones. Multiyear contracting should be allowed for lowering the cost of using the service.

Espino also indicated that agencies should be knowledgeable about software they use especially with its different aspects such as licensing, customization and ownership. Agencies should also be ready for long-term sustainability of an IT project as initial purchase of equipment and services does not mean that there is no need for a follow-up investment in the future.

“To ensure the sustainability of the project throughout its intended life cycle, a mechanism should be put in place wherein the cost of maintaining an IT system after procurement and implementation phase is automatically added to the agency’s annual operating expenses,” Espino said.

“The procurement process for ICT should be made simple and adaptable to modern technology in order to ensure efficiency,” according to Lilia Guillermo, Bureau of Internal Revenue Deputy Commissioner and current CIOF President.

In her presentation, Guillermo said that Republic Act 9184, otherwise known as the Government Procurement Reform Act, as well as its Implementing Rules and Regulations should be amended to address efficiency in procurement of ICT goods and services, consulting and infrastructure. Her approach is to treat IT projects the same way as business systems wherein services are rendered, paid for and discussed again as the need arises and in accordance to a signed contract.

Even CIOF member Cynthia Mamon, who is president of Sun Microsystems and the current president of the Information Technology Association of the Philippines, has offered help to train government procurement officers. She said the group is developing a curriculum on new technologies that procurement officers will encounter during implementation of IT projects.

Many government agencies have already benefited from funding, both from public funds as well as grants from foreign groups, to enhance their processes with the use of technology. Such projects have been done in the last 10 years with various levels of success but it was only in 2002 when the government announced the availability of a dedicated e-Government Fund. Still, it is not known when Filipinos would fully make use of such projects.

As Guillermo succinctly puts it: “With the help of technological expertise, a genuine commitment to change and the political will to implement urgent procedural reforms in the Procurement System as well as implementation of awarded contracts, the various government agencies are confident that the ICT framework for a future of service and commitment to the Filipinos will be in place and properly sustained.”

CIOs cite ICT procurement problems, issues

By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines -- The Chief Information Officers Forum (CIOF), an organization of CIOs from government and private institutions, identified concerns that delay the implementation of IT projects in the Philippines.

Those fail to succeed due to procurement issues are government projects related to IT or modernization. During a recent roundtable discussion on government procurement, some member CIOs pointed out reasons for such delays and came up with various papers citing the problems as well as coming up with suggestions to improve procurement.

The group met as part of the Information Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) project, a joint activity of the Department of Science and Technology and the Canadian International Development Research Center. Its main goals are to bring together theses and case studies on the use of ICT for development and get policy recommendations and experiences.

During his presentation, Angelo Timoteo Diaz de Rivera, director general of the National Computer Center and officer-in-charge of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology, pointed out that failed bids, delay in the release of funds, project modifications, change in project management and problems with service providers are among the main reasons why government IT projects are often delayed.

In most cases, these projects are recipients of millions of pesos from the e-Government Fund, a government-managed funding service dedicated to improving the government’s processes and speeding up services via the use of modern communications systems such as the Internet and mobile technology.

In his report, Diaz de Rivera revealed that between 2003 and 2006, P4.57 billion were released from the e-Government Fund for 36 projects. However, only five have been completed, namely the modernization system for the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Social Welfare and Development, as well as several projects for the sub-agencies of the Department of Science and Technology. The rest of the projects funded by the e-Government Fund are still ongoing, 14 of which are suffering delays due to procurement problems.

Diaz de Rivera also noted several concerns about procurement of ICT projects from the e-Government Fund, primarily the difficulty in preparing proposals. Another problem is the lack of support from other government agencies that also want to conduct their own IT projects.

Even when a budget is approved, procurement still remains a problem. Diaz de Rivera said there were issues of validity of fund utilization, incomplete release of budget from the Department of Budget and Management, difficulty in drawing up technical specifications without mentioning brand names, as well as difficulty in preparing terms of reference.

In fact, Diaz de Rivera drew up a longer list of reasons why projects are delayed or fail even when the budget has been approved.

In fact, the main reason for such delays is lack of project management skills, according to Duke Eustaquio, who heads business development at the Development Bank of the Philippines Data Center Inc.

In his presentation, Eustaquio noted that IT projects fail because of the misconception that new IT systems and the “end-all” solutions, adding that improving the business process of an organization must therefore be the focus of an IT system implementation.

Eustaquio said the use of an information systems strategic plan (ISSP) should be necessary to guide any institution on implementing IT projects.

“Implementing an IT system is not easy. Engaging the services of a Project Management Office (PMO) should therefore be one of the first activities in planning the implementation of an IT Systems project,” Eustaquio said.

Eustaquio advised that the project management team should come from another government agency to ensure that government interests are protected, because using project management teams from the private sector would only add another layer that the government needs to check, monitor and audit.

Some agencies still bid out their Internet connectivity requirements every year but Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) CIO Ma. Esperanza Espino said that Internet connectivity should be treated as a utility in the same manner as telephones. Multiyear contracting should be allowed for lowering the cost of using the service.

Espino also indicated that agencies should be knowledgeable about software they use especially with its different aspects such as licensing, customization and ownership. Agencies should also be ready for long-term sustainability of an IT project as initial purchase of equipment and services does not mean that there is no need for a follow-up investment in the future.

“To ensure the sustainability of the project throughout its intended life cycle, a mechanism should be put in place wherein the cost of maintaining an IT system after procurement and implementation phase is automatically added to the agency’s annual operating expenses,” Espino said.

“The procurement process for ICT should be made simple and adaptable to modern technology in order to ensure efficiency,” according to Lilia Guillermo, Bureau of Internal Revenue Deputy Commissioner and current CIOF President.

In her presentation, Guillermo said that Republic Act 9184, otherwise known as the Government Procurement Reform Act, as well as its Implementing Rules and Regulations should be amended to address efficiency in procurement of ICT goods and services, consulting and infrastructure. Her approach is to treat IT projects the same way as business systems wherein services are rendered, paid for and discussed again as the need arises and in accordance to a signed contract.

Even CIOF member Cynthia Mamon, who is president of Sun Microsystems and the current president of the Information Technology Association of the Philippines, has offered help to train government procurement officers. She said the group is developing a curriculum on new technologies that procurement officers will encounter during implementation of IT projects.

Many government agencies have already benefited from funding, both from public funds as well as grants from foreign groups, to enhance their processes with the use of technology. Such projects have been done in the last 10 years with various levels of success but it was only in 2002 when the government announced the availability of a dedicated e-Government Fund. Still, it is not known when Filipinos would fully make use of such projects.

As Guillermo succinctly puts it: “With the help of technological expertise, a genuine commitment to change and the political will to implement urgent procedural reforms in the Procurement System as well as implementation of awarded contracts, the various government agencies are confident that the ICT framework for a future of service and commitment to the Filipinos will be in place and properly sustained.”

P2 trillion worth of IT projects in the pipeline

By Tony Bergonia - Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines -- The controversial National Broadband Network (NBN) and Cyber Education Project (CEP) would sink the country deeper in debt because the government already owns other broadband networks and 31 information and communication technology (ICT) projects that have a combined cost of more than P2 trillion.

Most of the funds for the ongoing and proposed projects came or will come from foreign loans, a government listing showed.

Two of the projects are broadband networks that the government already owns -- the Philippine Administrative Network Project (PANP) and the Philippine Research, Education and Government Information Network (PREGINET).

The 31 ongoing and proposed ICT projects, plus the two existing government broadband networks, are the precursors of the NBN that would add about P15 billion to the more than P2 trillion that was already spent and would be spent on the government’s ICT projects.

Aside from the P15 billion that the Philippine government would borrow from China for the NBN, which was awarded to Chinese firm ZTE Corp., another P23 billion would be borrowed from China for the Department of Education’s CEP.

Huawei

The CEP was likely to be handed to ZTE’s competitor, Huawei, also a Chinese firm.

Two University of the Philippines economics professors, Raul V. Fabella and Emmanuel de Dios, said in a paper that it defied logic for government to own one broadband network, much less two.

Their paper was unable to study the implications of government having actually four broadband networks.

The PANP, also known as the French Protocol because it was built through more than P400 million in loans from the French government, was supposed to modernize the government’s news and information network.

The Office of the Press Secretary is its implementing arm.

The French Protocol was a satellite-based system that was meant to connect all offices of the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), the News and Information Bureau (NIB) and the Bureau of Broadcast Services (BBS) to enable them to transmit data, text and video faster.

But high costs of satellite technology and lack of funds have transformed pieces of equipment that were bought for the PANP into dust magnets, according to Malacañang officials who had first-hand knowledge of the French Protocol.

PREGINET’s funding is listed at P5.2 billion, which was borrowed from the Japanese government through the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

The Department of Science and Technology (DoST), the implementing arm of Preginet, said on its website that PREGINET was a “nationwide broadband network that interconnects academic institutions, government offices and R&D (research and development) centers in the Philippines.”

In June 2000, the DoST gave PREGINET P24 million to start the first year of a “high performance research and education network.”

“PREGINET lets users efficiently transmit and receive large amounts of data nationwide and integrates some existing government information networks into a common network backbone,” said the PREGINET website.

The project listing, which was attached as annexes to the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) for 2004-2010, showed that some of the big-ticket projects computerizing government offices were done through build-operate-transfer (BOT) schemes.

Bizarre turnaround

BOT schemes applied to ICT projects made a lot of sense, according to the paper of Fabella and De Dios.

“Indeed, they seemed to draw and build upon the logic and success of past privatizations, which had either brought in revenue, promoted efficiency, better service, or both,” said the paper.

It came as a bizarre turnaround, the paper said, when the government did not resort to the BOT scheme for the NBN and CEP, two projects that the government didn’t need to own, in the first place.

Some of the projects listed in the MTPDP were utter failures, like the modernization of the electoral process under the Commission on Elections.

The MTPDP listed a P12-billion budget for the Comelec project that has turned out to be just a waste of public funds.

The project never took off, but hundreds of millions of pesos had already been withdrawn from government coffers for a computer contract that was declared invalid by the Supreme Court.

The computers are currently kept in a Comelec-rented warehouse in Manila.

Machine-readable passports

Another computerization project was for the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) that sought to replace hand-manufactured passports and visas with machine readable ones.

It cost P2 billion under a BOT project that has a life span of 10 years. The DFA has recently started issuing machine-readable passports.

Yet another computerization project was for the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to establish a “wide area network that will link all DOLE offices.”

Part of the project was to develop a Labor Market Information System, or a computerized listing of job openings.

The DOLE ICT project was conceptualized in 1997 but its implementation started in 1998 and would take at least P100 million in government funds to complete.

The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) has its own computerization program, one that is now drawing flak for delaying the release of government workers’ salary loans and pensions.

The 10-year computerization project of the Land Transportation Office was one of the biggest items on the MTPDP list. It cost P3.4 billion through a BOT contract and is a component of a bigger National Information Technology Plan for the 21st Century, or IT21, project to rev up the country’s IT sector at an estimated cost of $49.7 billion, or almost P2 trillion.

It was supposed to accelerate the issuance of drivers’ licenses and other motor vehicle documents, but queues are still long in many LTO branches.

Birth certificates

The National Statistics Office, that is more popularly known as the agency that issues copies of birth certificates, was the beneficiary of a P2.1-billion BOT project to computerize its operations and speed up the processing of documents.

A computerization project of the Bureau of Internal Revenue was listed as having a budget of P4.4 billion.

Another broadband-related project was for the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to administer the interconnection of 100 state universities and colleges (SUCs) through local-area networks (LAN) and wide-area networks (WAN).

LAN is a system that links computers together in a small area, like offices or buildings. WAN is the same system applied to a larger area like a town, province or an entire country.

The CHEd project has a listed cost of P1.5 billion and a completion period of three years.

Telepono sa Barangay

Under the MTPDP, the Department of Transportation and Communications was to carry out a P62.7-billion “alternative communication program.”

This, according to the MTPDP annexes, “shall serve as an alternative to the Municipal Telephone Program (MTP) and the Telepono sa Barangay.”

It was to install “telecenters in every municipality and public pay phones accessible to all barangays.”

The government had already spent P1.5 billion of loans from Canada for the MTP that installed 2,460 telephone lines in 246 villages in the provinces of Quezon, Negros Oriental, Lanao del Norte, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Nueva Vizcaya and Misamis Occidental.

But the lines are now dead and the MTP fell apart as the use of cellular phones became more common.

Too poor to pay

It also proved to be a losing financial venture because most of the lines were installed in areas where poverty was so pervasive that people could barely afford three meals a day, much less pay for phone calls.

“Technology overran it (MTP),” said one official who took part in implementing the MTP.

“These guys working on the NBN and CEP should learn lessons from this (MTP),” said the official. “It’s Waste of Funds 101, but the lessons never sink in. It’s as if money grew on trees.”

Boao Forum

Malacañang officials, who helped prepare the MTPDP but declined to be identified for lack of clearance to talk from higher officials, said the listing of ongoing and proposed ICT projects in the government’s six-year development plan indicated “an aggressive push for IT (information technology) projects.”

It was an aggressive stance that President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo herself announced in a speech at the Boao Forum in Boao, China, shortly before she witnessed the signing of the NBN deal with ZTE on April 21, 2007.

“In the Philippines, we are investing aggressively in the IT backbone,” said Ms Arroyo in the speech. “We are bringing the Internet to every high school.”

It wasn’t clear whether, at the time Ms Arroyo said those words, her administration had already outlined what it wanted in terms of ICT projects other than to connect all government offices through a broadband network and all public high schools to the Internet.

Written by President

But in a portion in the MTPDP dealing with ICT projects that Malacañang officials said Ms Arroyo herself wrote, the President was well aware of what the problem in the ICT area was -- the lack of private sector participation.

“The absence of clear and concise policies allowing innovative and more efficient services at lower costs has discouraged the entry of new players and further investments in the (ICT) sector,” Ms Arroyo wrote in a situationer on Digital Infrastructure in the MTPDP.

“Clearly, there is need to sustain the momentum already gained toward the building of a digital infrastructure,” she wrote in the ICT section of the MTPDP shortly after the May 2004 elections.

“Hence, efforts in pursuit of this goal will be further accelerated with the private sector playing a major role in these efforts,” she said.

Her officials were to come under fire three years after she wrote those words for entering into a government-to-government deal with China for the NBN, a broadband network that would have no private sector participation.

RP firms just starting to adopt IT governance--IBM execs

By Erwin Oliva - INQUIRER.net


MAKATI CITY, Philippines -- The level of awareness and the interest to comply with regulatory and information technology governance issues are high in the Philippines, but only a few companies are practicing it, IBM executives said.

"The awareness and the interest to comply are high. But on the actual compliance, they're just starting. We don't know the extent of compliance," said Aileen Judan-Jiao, country services executive of IBM Global Technology Services Philippines.

Introducing a suite of IT governance services, framework and tools, IBM executives said the "highly regulated" industries are expected to initially adopt IT governance since they are now under pressure to become more visible and accountable to stakeholders and customers.

IT governance involves, among others, managing risks and information security within organizations, ensuring compliance to regulatory mandates like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and keeping the "lights on" in the face of natural or man-made disasters.

In the Philippines, Judan-Jiao said local organizations now consider typhoons and floods as the top two events which organizations have to prepare for.

"You cannot get away from IT governance," the IBM executive stressed, noting that banks, multinational companies, and publicly listed business process outsourcing companies are among those leading in the adoption of IT governance.

Peter Rajnak, solutions manager for security of the IBM Software Group for the Asean region, added that the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand are among the countries that are just starting to implement IT governance.

Asked why there is lower adoption of IT governance in the country, Judan-Jiao replied: "We don't have a strong e-governance agency to implement compliance across all industry." But she quickly added that the Commission on Information and Communications Technology has started to put together guidelines to help local organizations comply with certain regulatory standards.

Rajnak, for his part, said that the Asian culture is a factor in the compliance of some companies.

"It takes time to change the regulatory culture," he added.

Asked if government readiness is another factor affecting adoption of IT governance in the country, Rajnak said that "generally, it is a factor."

IT governance and risk management will grow to a $30-billion global market by 2008, IBM said, citing the AMR Research's analyst report titled "Market Demand for Governance, Risk Management and Compliance 2007-2008.”