RAISON de etre. Reason for existing. Just like human beings, a law exists for a reason. The passage of any law or legislation always has to be appreciated based on its spirit - why it needs to exist.
The law creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Republic Act No. 10844 or An Act Creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology was signed on May 20, 2016 during the administration of President Benigno Aquino III. The law took effect in June 9, 2016. But several attempts to pass the law started during the time of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who established the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT). It could have been an aspiration of many stakeholders even prior to her administration.
Republic Act No. 10844 effectively takes out communications concerns and responsibilities from the plate of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and ended the long “ping-pong” period of said responsibilities communications functions and responsibilities from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Office of the President.
On the way to its fourth year as a department, the DICT has faced many internal debacles, mainly brought about by the lack of understanding of political appointees of all the underlying principles and aspirations of stakeholders who passionately and selflessly fought for the institutionalization of a department dedicated to ICT and ICT related concerns, programs and advocacies.
For the appointees, what matters to them is technically the words of the law and their functions. For all the stakeholders like myself who spent years trying to get the attention of policy makers in establishing a dedicated department, the spirit of the law is more important.
The DICT is relatively one of the newest departments of government to date along with the housing department recently created. It, therefore, is designed and accordingly expected to act as an agency that is filled with innovation and less traditional practices that hamper its effectiveness.
However, on an objective level, even as a systems thinker, I may have to admit that any government agency is only as good as the people leading it. That said, I am always hopeful that DICT will become the one ticket we all have envisioned. This country needs digital transformation as it has good leaders.
The design of the department is inclusive and collaborative. DICT is not meant to take over the core functions of other departments. Its mandate is to advocate, support and promote digitalization and digital transformation to other departments to make their specific mandates more innovative, relevant and satisfactory. This is what stakeholders envision for DICT but as to how the department’s leadership is carrying out that vision is another story.
The DICT was pushed for two decades by stakeholders for a noble mission. I am privileged to be there almost from the start. Here’s to name some of the major parts of the “dream through the DICT” of stakeholders more than 10 years ago.
We aimed the DICT to transform and catapult this country from being a third world country to the first stages of advancement towards a knowledge based economy where citizens are equipped with the necessary 21st century skills, that will allow them to be ready and leverage on the opportunities and benefits of digital transformation across the globe and in all industries, agriculture, healthcare, education, and business among others.
The DICT is also designed to help new industries anchored on technologies to flourish and provide more jobs to add to the creation of more knowledge, revenues and jobs.
Our dream particularly in the countryside is to see DICT become a catalyst for digital inclusion, which is achieved by ensuring that the countryside and underprivileged sectors are included in all ICT trainings and programs. DICT is also expected to ensure an ICT infrastructure that is more efficient, fast, accessible and affordable.
The department should also ensure that the nation is protected and equipped with knowledge to combat the downside of the information age in relation to cybersecurity and data privacy; and insist that all agencies of government work together as guided by DICT so the country can reap the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
We should not allow any tendency for greed, corruption, short-sightedness and political patronage to affect this dream of the stakeholders now. I pray that all the millions of stakeholders who pushed for the creation of this department will rise now and save this department from going astray. We badly need this department. There are so many good men and women inside this department in all regions of this country who are doing their very best to bring about innovation. We need to all work together to make sure that DICT can get our country through the digital storm.