Senates approves DICT bill on final reading

Senates approves DICT bill on final reading

The Senate approved on third and final reading this morning a bill seeking to establish the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), a government agency that will focus on the growth and development of the information and communications technology (ICT) sector in the country.

Senate Bill No. 50 otherwise known as the DICT Act of 2010, was approved with 12 affirmative votes, no negative votes and no abstention. Sen. Edgardo J. Angara was principal author of the bill with Senators Loren Legarda and Manuel Villar as co-sponsors.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile welcomed the approval of the bill, noting that all parties in the both the public and private sectors of the Philippines should "develop and tap the best available technology" for the country to be able to keep up with global competition. "Governments throughout the world have devoted efforts towards the development and management of information systems to streamline and improve the efficiency of the delivery of basic goods and services to the people," Enrile explained.

Under the bill, Angara explained, all communications-related agencies under the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) will be transferred to the DICT.

A counterpart measure (House Bill no. 4667) has already been approved last December in the House of Representatives, Angara noted. "Given that it has already advanced so far into the legislative process, we do all that we can to ensure its passage into law," Angara said. Angara said "many countries around the world have a separate department dedicated to the development of ICT because they realize it will be the dynamo of growth."

Angara explained that the DICT, once established, can provide meaningful support to the Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) industry in the country that currently employs almost 3.5 million people in both direct and indirect jobs.

"The IT-BPO industry in the country is probably the fastest growing sector of our economy. Right now, it generates $9 billion and in four years' time, it is expected to increase that revenue to almost $25 billion," Angara said.