THE Commission on Appointments has confirmed former senator Gregorio Honasan II as Secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
Malacañang welcomed Honasan's confirmation on Wednesday, September 11.
"We welcome the confirmation of the ad interim appointment of Mr. Gregorio Honasan II as the Secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) by the Commission on Appointments," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement.
The 19-member bicameral body swiftly approved without objection the ad interim appointment of Honasan as the head of the DICT, an agency in charge of the country's telecommunications infrastructure.
Honasan, a former rebel soldier, took oath as the new head of the DICT on July 1.
His appointment at the DICT was questioned because of his supposed failure to meet the requirements under Republic Act (RA) 10844 or the Department of Information and Communications Technology Act of 2015.
RA 10844 states that an appointed DICT secretary must have "at least seven years of competence and expertise in any of the following: information and communications techology; information technology service management, information security management, cybersecurity, data privacy, e-commerce, or human capital development in the ICT sector."
Malacañang, however, defended Honasan in July, saying that his management expertise makes him qualified to lead the DICT.
Panelo said the executive branch was optimistic that Honasan would help Duterte fulfill his vow to the public to provide better telecommunications services.
"The Palace is confident that Secretary Honasan would be able to implement the President’s marching order of providing the Filipino people better connectivity through the full rollout of the national fiber optic cable network and operationalization of the country's new major telecommunications player," he said. (SunStar Philippines)