Rules out for proposed ICT agency

Government has come out with the draft rules creating a transition body for the proposed Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

Based on documents furnished The STAR, the transition agency – the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) – has been tasked to promote policies to foster and sustain an ‘e-enabled information society.’

Earlier, President Arroyo in an executive order named former IBM Philippines head Virgilio Pena as CICT chairman.

The CICT’s mandate include ensuring the provision of strategic, universal, high-speed, reliable, cost-efficient and equitable access to information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, systems, services, and resources as instruments for nation-building and global competitiveness, and for promoting transparency and public accountability in governance.

ICT, as defined under the proposed rules, refers to the totality of electronic means to collect, store, process and present information to end-users in support of their activities. It consists, among others, of computer systems, office systems and consumer electronics, as well as networked information infrastructure, the components of which include the telephone system, the Internet, fax machines, and computers, and future ICT-related inventions and technologies.

The CICT is likewise tasked to ensure a transparent and non-discriminatory policy and legal environment to promote e-commerce activities, a level playing field and partnerships between the public and private sector, strategic alliances with foreign investors, balanced investments between high-growth and economically depressed areas, and broader private sector participation in ICT developments.

The draft rules also direct the CICT to promote the development of ICT expertise to enable Filipinos to compete in a fast-evolving information and communications age; ensure the growth and global competitiveness of the ICT industries; preserve the rights of individuals and business users to privacy, security, and confidentiality of their personal information; ensure universal access and high-speed connectivity at fair and reasonable cost; ensure the provision of ICT services in areas not adequately served by the private sector; and foster the widespread use and application of emerging ICT.

The CICT is also the primary policy, planning, implementing, regulating, and administering entity for ICT of the executive branch of government. Specifically, it shall design and implement an integrated government information and communications infrastructure development program. It shall also establish guidelines for private sector funding of ICT projects of government agencies to fast-track projects, as well as the rules for the operation and maintenance of a nationwide postal system.

The commission is seen as a transition body in preparation for the creation of a DICT which, according to the government, will be pushed as an urgent administration bill in Congress.

Meanwhile, the affected agencies to be transferred to the CICT are the National Computer Center, the Telecommunications Office (Telof), and all other operating units in the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) which directly support communications, including the National Telecommunications Office (NTC) and the Philippine Postal Corp. (Philpost).