RP still far from goal of becoming knowledge cente

The Philippines aims to be Asia’s knowledge center within the first decade of the 21st century, but as of the turn of the century, the country is still far from reaching this state.

Science and Technology Secretary Estrella Alabastro that while there has been in the past few years a rapid growth in telephone density and increase in the number of Internet service providers, what has been achieved is still way below what it should be, or even in comparison with that of other ASEAN countries.

The blueprint for the Philippines information and communications technology is contained in IT21 which ambitiously sets out the goal of making the country the knowledge center in Asia in the 21s century.

IT 21 specifically states that by the turn of the 21st century, the Philippines will have laid the infrastructure for every business, every agency of government, every school, and every home in the country to have access to information technology.

By the year 2005, information technology use will be pervasive in daily life. Philippine companies will be producing competitive IT products for world markets. Within the first decade of the 21st century, the Philippines will be a knowledged center in Asia: a leader in IT education, an IT-assisted training, and in the application of information and knowledge to business, professional services, and the arts.

During the groundbreaking ceremonies for the PLDT Center for Convergent Information and Communications Technologies at the Ateneo de Manila University, Alabastro said that there have been some initiatives in ICT development in the past but they were largely uncoordinated.

It was eight years ago when the Department of Science and Technology began funding a project that would connect universities to the Internet, under its priority project Science and Technology Agenda for National Development (Stand 2000).

"It is unfortunate though that while the Philippines started early in the use of ICT, it has not progressed as much as other countries in fully harnessing its potentials for development and economic growth, due to lack of coordination between government and industry in the past to pursue a focused ICT development strategy."

This, she said, has been corrected through the creation of the Information Technology and E-Commerce Council (ITECC). Through ITECC, there are now concerted efforts to exploit ICT fully in generating employment, creating enterprises, upgrading productivity, reducing inefficiencies and having more transparency in government transactions, and improving quality of education and manpower development, Alabastro explained.

President Arroyo, in her first State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA), emphasized that ICT will be the leading sector for economic growth and will be the key to finding the country’s proper niche in the global village in the 21st century.

Alabastro noted that the Philippines today enjoys a competitive advantage over many Asian countries, for its skilled, easily trainable English-proficient workforce, as well as a growing spirit of entrepreneurship in the ICT field.

But she said that the road ahead is not easy, since there is still a need to lay down the necessary foundations, particularly technical manpower base.

The DOST chief pointed out that it is also important to strengthen research and development capabilities, with implementing graduate programs in the ICT field a prerequisite.

"Focused technology sourcing, adaptation, and improvement will have to be done. There is also the need to motivate innovators and technical people to be creative. It becomes imperative too that we have to make it easy to do business in the country in order to attract investors, clients and strategic partners," she said.

Alabastro added that there is also a need to establish close cooperation between government at all levels, with the local and international businesses, the academic and science and technology communities, the civil society, and international institutions.