JFC prods House on DICT law

Foreign trade groups in the Philippines, noting that technology has become a major source of economic output in the country, has strongly urged the House of Representatives to pass a bill creating a Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) before the end of the current session of Congress. 

The Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines (JFC), which is composed of the biggest foreign business chambers in the country, wrote Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. to stress the need for a DICT in recognition of the information technology (IT)-business process management (BPM)-knowledge process management (KPM) industry as a pillar of the economy.

“By establishing a DICT, not only will the Philippines join over 80 percent of countries worldwide that already have dedicated stand-alone government bodies on ICT, but it will also drive the modernization of business processes at a horizontal level and establish the necessary criteria for the Philippines to remain a global leader in the IT-BPM-KPM sector, through a number of overarching benefits,” the JFC said in its letter.

The Senate earlier passed its version of the DICT law.

The JFC said the creation of a communications technology department would further consolidate the country’s position as an internationally competitive investment destination.

The JFC is a coalition of the American, Australian-New Zealand, Canadian, European, Japanese and Korean Chambers of Commerce in the Philippines, as well as the Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters.

The group noted that e-governance could be implemented more effectively at a national level under a DICT.

“This will result in increased transparency, efficiency, clarity for foreign investors and a significant decrease in the administrative burden for companies, which will, in turn, encourage compliance through easier processes,” the JFC said.

The JFC noted that data protection was becoming more important, as global market trends and stringent international regulations make international companies unwilling to risk investment in countries with no data protection framework.

“While the Data Privacy Act (DPA) was enacted in 2012 in the Philippines, it has still not been implemented. The law mandates the creation of a National Privacy Commission (NPC) under the DICT,” the JFC said.

The group also said that, while the creation of a DICT was pivotal to the full implementation of the DPA and the establishment of the NPC, there was a legal basis to attach the NPC to the Office of the President, pending the creation of a DICT, pursuant to Section 42 of the DPA.

“We, therefore, strongly urge the government to act without further delay on this important provision,” it added.

Cybersecurity would also become a priority under a DICT through the formulation of a strong protection and enforcement framework against cybercrime.

Cybersecurity is of key importance in terms of investor protection and goes hand in hand with the future growth potential of service outsourcing sectors as it becomes an ever-bigger concern for companies worldwide, the JFC said.

It noted that the recent compromise of the United States federal government files on 21.5 million persons was yet another example of the global vulnerability to hostile hackers that can easily happen in the Philippines.

The forming of a DICT would also result in the increased government efficiency and the reduction of costs due to the mandate of the agency that includes rationalizing and unifying the management of ICT-related functions and programs that are currently assumed by numerous agencies.

“In this context, we urge the House of Representatives to pass the corresponding measure of the DICT bill already approved by the Senate, with the objective to ratify the bill before the end of the 16th Congress,” the JFC said in the letter.

The establishment of a DICT would ensure that the Philippine business environment could enjoy the benefits of one more landmark bill before the end of the Aquino administration, the group said.

The JFC added that the foreign business community in the Philippines was wholly committed to actively supporting the implementation of a future DICT law, to ensure that the creation of a DICT translates into overarching benefits for the competitiveness of the Philippines economy at a regional and global level.