1

SPONSORSHIP SPEECH
Senate Bill No. 2686
Committee Report 113
16 March 2015
Mr. President, my dear colleagues:
This bill about broadband is not only being pushed by a
broad band of groups, but has also benefited from their
inputs which were gathered from many meetings.
I have to stress the crowdsourcing way by which it was
written because its been joked about that whats slower
than Internet speed in this country, is Congress at work.
Well, its true that the way we pile up the provisions of a
law can be likened to Tetris pieces slowly falling into
place.
And sometimes, legislation, especially contentious ones,
advances at a speed of 5 bps or 5 bill pages per
session year.
But that is the way laws are made, not just here but
anywhere, in deliberative fashion because the prose of
legislation has far-reaching effects.
Bills can't be crammed into 140-character tweets. And
once signed into law, they dont come installed with a

backspace key that can autodelete poorly thought out

provisions.
The way citizens can now monitor their representatives
in Congress speaks volumes of how information and
communications technology, or ICT, has given them
access to the workings of government.
This is a far cry from how it was in the summer of 1987,
when the Senate was about to reconvene after 15 years
of forced vacation.
It was said that the number one agenda of the incoming
senators then was not choosing the bills to be brought to
the floor, but on how to bring telephone service to the
Old Congress building.
After much haggling with the telephone monopoly at the
time, they were given a handful of rotary setsbut each
one had a party line.
Session journals were printed by mimeograph machines,
after manual typewriters had punched the contents into
stencils. Feedback came from the flood of telegrams.
And the reply was picked up by a kartero.
When a citizen wanted to watch a session of the Senate,
he had to phone his senator for a pass to the gallery.
Today, he can watch our sessionson his cellphone.

Our meetings are livestreamed on the Senate website,

Pia tweets in between interpellation, Sonny Instagrams
his attendance, and even the youngest member of the
chamber, born in 1924, when Manila had less than 2,000
telephones, totes an iPad for research and recreation.
And feedback? We get it from the likes in our FB posts,
the sharing of our tweets, and from trolls who twit us on
comment pages.
Today, broadband is the third utility, after water and
power. And the most sought-after, if we go by the trend
among restaurants to offer free wifi but not free bottled
water. In some countries, Internet access is a human
right, which is what the UN has declared.
There are more cellphone subscriptions than Filipinos
today. 114 million accounts versus 105 million souls.
Overall, 4 in 10 have access to the Internet.
As of the latest count, the fixed and mobile broadband
penetration rate is 24.1 percent, which means 25 million
of us, or about two times the population of Greece and
five and a half times the inhabitants of New Zealand,
have access to it.
The number of Filipino Facebook users, I think, is past
the 30 million mark. This should prompt Mark Zuckerberg
to start greeting us Happy New Year in Tagalog.

Were the texting capital of the world. In Metro Manila,

millions of WRU na text queries are sent every day,
which in turn are promptly replied with millions of Traffic
pa, W8 lang U.
A Filipino may not have food in his stomach or money in
his pocket, but he will always have a cellphone holstered
somewhere, so when he boards a bus which advertises
Wi-Fi onboard, he can blast politicians in social media
as a way of letting off steam when hes marooned in
traffic.
But more than these, ICT is putting people to work, taxes
in government coffers, money in the economy, and hope
in our countrys future.
Income from outsourcing the BPOs, the call centers,
the back offices, medical transcription, game
development, creative process outsourcing, to name a
few is projected to reach $25 billion or 8 percent of
GDP next year.
In addition, it employs a million Filipinos, more if ancillary
services are included. One in four jobs today are
occupied by knowledge workers.
It is the third largest source of dollars after electronics
and OFW remittances.

And even in the case of OFWs, ICT through Skype, FB

and Viber
is the glue that keeps separated families together.
ICT is a proven growth driver.
Every 10 percentage points increase in broadband
penetration is said to boost the GDP by 1 percent.
But to avail of these benefits, we need to address ICT
infrastructure, ICT affordability, ICT usage, three
benchmarks in which the Philippines ranks low.
To respond to the above challenges, we need a main
server, so to speak, to spur ICT development,
institutionalize e-government, and manage the countrys
ICT environment and directionand that, my friends, is
the Department of Information and Communications
Technology.
To criticisms that the creation of a Department of ICT is a
symptom of that government disease to mutate agencies
and multiply regulation, then let me assure you that such
has no basis.
The need for a DICT is here and now. The horse is
already here. It is the cart were building. The creation of
this agency is driven by demand.

And Peter Wallace had described that demand this way:

ICT will dictate human lifestyles, drive industries and
shape society in the years to come.
The question is, are we ready? Yes, with this bill we will
be.
Mr. President:
This bill sets as national policies the following:
To make ICT an instrument of good governance and
global competitiveness;
To ensure universal access to quality, affordable,
reliable ICT service, or in simple consumer
language, service without dropped calls, dead spots,
disappearing signal and slooooow Internet
connectivity;
To promote the development, and the widespread
use of emerging ICT and the convergence of ICT
and ICT-enabled facilities;
To steer ICT services to areas where no telco has
gone before;
To craft policies that will promote a broad, marketled development of the ICT and ICT-enabled
services, and create a level playing field because if

it tilts a little bit to the other side, one of the two

dueling telco giants will soon be hyperventilating its
disgust in public;
To spur the development of local ICT content as well
as ICT start-upsfor who knows, maybe the next
Bill Gates is in one of the garages out there;
To make ICT a job generator;
To tap ICT to make our people smarter, healthier,
safer in their communities, proud of their national
identity, appreciative of their culture; and aware of
their civic duties;
To promote digital literacy, so that digital aliens and
migrants like me in my age bracket can engage the
WTF Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook generation;
To empower, through ICT, the disadvantaged
segments of the population, but this doesn't mean
that those who have less in life should have more
laptops;
To ensure our right to privacy because the right to be
heard and seen includes the right to be hidden and
forgotten;
To secure our ICT infrastructure, because we live in
an era when terrorists dont have to blast bank doors

to do mayhem; but simply unleash a virus that could

shred or suck out financial data.
To boost our nations defense against cyberattacks
because an enemy with a missile is as dangerous as
one with malware;
The proposed department will be the primary policy,
planning, coordinating, implementing agency on ICT. It
will plan, develop, and promote the national ICT agenda.
It shall have the following powers and functions,
clustered around four key areas.
First is policy and planning.
It will formulate, recommend and implement
national policies, plans, and programs which will
promote the development and use of ICT.
It shall partner with DepEd, CHED and TESDA
in mainstreaming ICT in schools and manpower
development so our human resources are ICTcompetent.
It shall link all government ICT resources and
networks under one integrated framework so
government can optimize its ICT assets.
Second is improvement of public access.

It shall prescribe the rules and recommend the

incentives to bring ICT infrastructure to
unserved and underserved areas.
It shall establish a free Internet service,
available in public offices and areas, using costeffective technology, which it may offer in
partnership with private service providers.
Third is resource-sharing and capacity-building.
It will harmonize national ICT initiatives so that
knowledge is transferred, resources are shared,
data bases are built and agency networks are
linked together.
Also falling under this category is the protection
of government ICT infrastructures and designs.
The DICT will also render technical expertise to
government agencies, not only in the setting of
standards, but in the enforcement of regulatory
guidelines as well.
It will likewise support ICT research, especially
the ones done by DOST.
It shall assist in developing systems that can
quickly disseminate disaster information.

10

Because the government needs an ICT corps, it

shall prescribe personnel qualifications, training
and career advancement programs.
Fourth is consumer protection and industry
development.
Stripped of jargon, this section means that DICT
will protect consumers against lousy service,
and ensure business users right to privacy.
It shall also encourage the incubation of ICT
firms, promote investment opportunities in the
ICT sector. In this regard, it shall advise in the
drawing up of concepts and contracts on PPP
projects in the ICT sector.
It shall strike local and international partnerships
to speed up industry growth and boost the
competitiveness of Philippine ICT firms and
talent.
So the above is the operating system of the DICT. Let
me now go to the hardware.
For efficiency and economy, the DICT will be created by
merging existing ICT-related agencies.

11

Unli is good for calls and internet use, but when it

comes to the ICT authority, there must be one and only.
To be abolished, and their powers and functions, funds
and appropriations, manpower and assets, transferred to
DICT, are:
Information and Communications Technology Office
(ICTO)
National Computer Center (NCC)
National Computer Institute (NCI)
Telecommunications Office (TELOF)
National Telecommunications Training Institute
(NTTI)
All units of the DOTC with functions and
responsibilities dealing with communications will be
folded into the new department.
The rest of the DOTC offices shall stay with the DOTC,
which shall then be known as the Department of
Transportation.
This will allow the downsized Transportation department
to focus on fixing our transportation mess.
It will now have the undivided attention and the narrowed
mandate to ensure that trains run on time, run on new

12

tracks, and not run off them; that the shipping industry is
buoyant and ships, afloat, literally; that jeeps dont cut
trips, buses dont cut lives short, and transport officials
dont take a cut.
The following will be attached to the DICT, for policy and
program coordination only. They shall continue to
operate pursuant to their charters:
National Telecommunications Commission;
National Privacy Commission; and
Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center or
CICC.
All work related to cybersecurity including the formulation
of the National Cybersecurity Plan and the formation of a
National Computer Emergency Response Team our IT
Special Action Forces are transferred to the DICT.
Let me assure you that these mergers wont birth a huge
bureaucracy nor burn a deep hole in the taxpayers
pocket. It will have the same, if not smaller, budgetary
footprint, as what the affected agencies together have.
Were limiting the number of undersecretaries and
assistant secretaries. Creation of regional offices is
optional, not mandatory.

13

In creating new positions, we will adopt the scrap-andbuild approach, in which, for example, a few unfilled
lower positions can be reconstituted into one with a
higher pay grade.
The idea is to create a small but smart workforce. The
army of casuals in ICTO, once they hurdle personnel
standards, will be regularized.
All benefits presently enjoyed by affected employees will
be retained, including entitlements under the Magna
Carta for Science and Technology Workers.
If you need further proof that this bill will be spendingneutral, kindly read Section 21. Not a single new centavo
will be appropriated in starting up DICT.
The initial amount needed to get it up and running shall
be taken from the current budget of the offices to be
abolished, like ICTO.
The DICT shall be headed by a secretary. He or she
must have a minimum 7 years of work experience in ICT.
By spelling these out, were making sure the person will
be hired based on competence, not connections.
While the DICT secretary will have a workforce below
him, he will have sectoral and industry task forces,
technical advisory bodies by his side.

14

This bill enshrines stakeholder participation in the

department. That agency is required to have a social
network.
Mr. President:
We are now living in an electronic republic, where views
of the sovereign are advocated online, and services must
be rendered to them on the same platform.
A government which spends P2.5 trillion a year needs
ICT to get more bang out of the buck, and to prevent
bribes from being squeezed out of the peso.
Permits, licenses, land titles should now be
electronically-applied for, processed and issued. Let us
leave to the MRT the exclusive franchise of organizing
long lines.
If there will be an FOI, then there must be a DICT to help
implement the law, which will make it easier for the
people to get information and service from government
offices and officials.
We have to harness ICT for us to be catapulted forward
in an age when the race among nations for jobs and
investments favors the one with the best ICT
infrastructure.

15

Countries that have established a Cabinet-level ICT

agency have ranked high on ICT scorecards in
government efficiency, in broadband penetration, in
number of schools wired, and on the impact of ICT on
basic services delivered, among others.
We therefore need need an agency which can pull us up
from our low global ICT standing.
Out of 148 countries, we rank 71 in using ICT for
government efficiency; 78 in network readiness, 67 in
government online service, and 74 in schools with
Internet.
Many of the problems we confront today have ICT
solutions which can ease the pain they cause or make
them totally go away.
If roads are clogged with traffic, then the information
highway provides a detour. That way energy is saved,
pollution reduced, and mass sanity is preserved.
Kung ma-traffic, mag-telecommute.
Kung malayo ang ospital, ang doktor ay napapalapit sa
pamamagitan ng tele-medicine.
Kung malayo ang paaralan, may distance learning na sa
computer pinapadaan.

16

Kahit malayo ang pamilihan, sa ICT malalaman kung

saan magandang bumili o magbenta, kung saan ang
sulit ang kita at ayos dito ang presyo.
By injecting ICT into the production of goods or value
chains, costs go down, sales go up, markets expand,
and innovation is encouraged.
Our capacity to create jobs, grow our economy, train
skilled people, and feed our country will rest on our
ability to expand our ICT capability.
This bill is about future-proofing our country. It is our app
for tomorrow.
We need to create a technology-literate workforce. The
division today is no longer between the Haves and the
Have-Nots alone, but also between the Knows and the
Dont Knows. And it is the Dont Knows who end up
becoming the Have-Nots.
Mr. President:
We should pass this, not because chambers of
commerce are hectoring us to do so, or because there is
a loud constituency in social media hollering shout outs
that we should act on it, or that the IT professionals want
it.

17

Actually, the constituency who will benefit from the bill is

the whole country itself.
From the homemaker who Skypes with her OFW
husband; to the college student who streams a TedTalk
video on Youtube; to the motorist who has to Waze
himself out of traffic jams; to the small factory owner who
has to teleconference with his customers abroad.
From the mayor who has to rely on Project NOAH
warnings during typhoons; to the entrepreneur who has
to do e-banking; to the taxpayer who must rely on a
virtual map in navigating the labyrinth of bureaucracy; to
the call center jock who guides an old lady in freezing
Minnesota on how to restart her heater from his cubicle
in humid Ortigas.
From the jobseeker who trawls help wanted ads online;
to the backpacker on the hunt for cheap airline tickets; to
the BPO manager who must remain competitive in a
cutthroat environment; to the fish broker who has to track
his tuna shipment online.
Yes, even to the leader of an intrepid group of men who
has to fire a staccato of med evac, fire support text
messages.
And, by the way, if theres one graphic example of the
big role of ICT in society, it was Mamasapano.

18

When we started piecing together the narrative of the

debacle, the first things we summoned were the SMS
records of those involved so we can get the big picture.
And what we also discovered is that our brave men, their
bullets gone but not the fight in them, spent their last
moments as ICT users, plotting their location in their
GPS, asking for load, so they can reiterate their request
for help which never came, so they can text their family
of their love which will never die.
Mr. President:
When it comes to DICT, it is YOLO time. You Only
Legislate Once this kind of idea. This is an opportunity
we should not pass, nor forfeit again.
Previous bills creating the DICT had hurdled crucial
phases of legislation in the past, like being passed by the
House and the Senate, only to flounder in the last minute
for lack of time.
This time, let us give it the final push. If we can bring this
to the presidents table by June, then we are time-ontarget.
Hashtag L-O-L. Lets Okay this Law.