A STAUNCH advocate of information and communications technology (ICT) recently said there is an urgent need to pass the bill creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) in order to rationalize the ICT initiatives of the government.

“It is high time that the bill calling for the formulation of the DICT to be passed into law so the country can craft better the policies and standards of all the ICT programs in the government,” said George Kintanar, a member of the CIO, an organization of all chief information officers working in different government offices.

Kintanar said the creation of a DICT would enable the government to develop better decision-making capabilities in the implementation of ICT policies in the government. During an interview with the BusinessMirror at the sidelines of the recently concluded Digital Video Broadcast forum in Quezon City, Kintanar pointed out the issue involving the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and International Business Machines (IBM) is a very good lesson for the government to ponder in terms of ICT deployment.

“Further, the CIO Forum has conducted a quorum to look into the GSIS-IBM brouhaha and instill measures to avoid a repetition,” Kintanar pointed out.

Kintanar said ICT is not just the infrastructure and content. “While they’re   definitely important, these two cannot work without the proper training of the human resource,” he said.

At present, the Philippines is one of the few countries in Southeast Asia which does not have a cabinet-level ICT body.

If the creation of the DICT proceeds as planned, experts think it could jumpstart the capabilities of the country toward making high-value businesses rather than commodity-outsourcing capabilities. More important, experts believe a super body is needed to guide the Philippines in developing its niche in ICT since the country does not have the size and scope to compete against China and India. With the background, the country can avoid being dragged in the volume game and low-wage arena.

In a related development, Sen. Edgardo Angara recently upheld the creation of the DICT to ensure the provision of strategic, reliable, cost-efficient and citizen-centric ICT infrastructure, systems and resources to support nation-building and global competitiveness.

“Ensuring the capability of the country in providing accessible and competitive information and communications technology services fosters growth and opportunities for Filipinos to compete in a fast-evolving ICT environment of the world,” explained Angara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, in a statement.

The solon from Baler said ICT plays a key role in the information age to achieve national development, as it is a pervasive tool in major sectors such as education, governance and business.

In this respect, Senate Bill 2546 seeks the creation of the DICT so that, once passed, it shall be responsible in handling all ICT-related plans and initiatives of the government for a consistent and coordinated function. It will also ensure the establishment and development of an integrated government framework that will optimize all resources and development programs for ICT-enabled services sectors.

“ICT proves to be a significant catalyst for national development, without which coordination between government offices and partnerships with concerned agencies will be very intricate. The Department of Information and Communications Technology, in this respect, shall coordinate with various public and private agencies to facilitate different government initiatives such as the e-government objectives, in particular, and national objectives, in general,” said Angara.

He stressed the E-Government Fund, which will be created for the DICT, will serve as a special fund for cross-agency and government-initiated ICT projects. The fund will be used to support and cofinance projects that enable the government to expand its ability to conduct activities electronically and provide frontline services through the development and implementation of innovative uses of the Internet or other emerging technologies.

“We must develop our government’s ICT capabilities in order to provide our Filipinos with adept ICT-enabled programs that will equip them to be globally competitive individuals. Coordination between the private, government and even the academe is perceived to be a good way to combine different perspectives for ICT development,” said Angara.