Miriam seeks review of DOST public Wi-Fi project

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago wants a review of the implementation of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)’s free public Wi-Fi project before any additional funding is given for the endeavor.

Santiago aired her concern about the ability of the DOST to efficiently implement its programs after seeing the report of the Commission on Audit about the underspending of its Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) for some of its projects in 2014.

Based on the COA report, a total of P892.8 million in e-Government funds were allocated to the ICTO in 2014, of which only P65.2 million was spent.

Among the projects that were supposed to be funded by the P892.8 million were the Integrated Government Philippines (iGovPhil) Project, which aims to set up a shared network among offices delivering common services, and the Philippines Community eCenter (CeC) Program.

According to COA auditors, the underspending was the result of procurement delays, as they questioned whether the ICTO bids and awards committee for special projects was fully capable of handling high-value projects.

Santiago agreed with the COA recommendation for the ICTO to carefully select members of its bids and awards committees for priority projects and to improve training on procurement bidding to help the agency efficiently perform its functions.

Besides flagging procurement inefficiencies, the state auditors also criticized how a total of P186.7 million in project and maintenance and operating expenses funds of the ICTO reverted to the national treasury, an indicator, they said, of poor monthly cash programming.

“Government efforts to pursue ICT projects are laudable. We cannot lag behind other countries on that front. But before the government can even dream of implementing big-ticket projects, it must improve the capacity of responsible agencies,” Santiago said.

As a result of the COA findings, Santiago aired her concern about the ability of the DOST to efficiently implement its free public Wi-Fi project, which has a total cost of P3 billion.

An initial P1.4 billion was allocated this year for the project while the balance of P1.6 billion was included in the proposed P17.8- billion budget of the DOST for 2016.