MANILA, Philippines — Residents of San Juan City can now have access to internet around the clock through the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT)’s free WiFi for all program.
Mayor Francis Zamora and DICT Secretary Gregorio Honasan inked a memorandum of agreement for the installation of WiFi hotspots in the city.
San Juan is the first city in the country with large scale free internet access, according to the DICT.
Under the agreement, public places in the city’s 21 barangays will be the pilot sites for internet access. These are barangay halls, health centers, public schools, police stations and public parks.
Three WiFi sites are operational as of yesterday: City hall, San Juan National High School and San Juan mini park.
Zamora thanked the DICT for making San Juan the pilot city for its free WiFi project.
He urged the public, especially students to take advantage of free internet access for their studies.
“Kailangan maximize ng mga mag-aaral ito. Madami silang matututunan sa pamamagitan ng internet,” Zamora said.
Also present during the ceremonial signing at city hall were Rep. Ronaldo Zamora and members of the city council.
A WiFi signal was switched on at the city hall.
Honasan said the setting up of free WiFi in San Juan was in compliance with President Duterte’s order to make the entire country connected to the internet.
Zamora said he hopes the installation of internet connections in other places will be completed by next year.
The government has earmarked P1.3 billion for the DICT’s free WiFi project, which aims to put up 100,000 sites all over the country by 2022.