Will country’s IT industry
end year with a whimper?
By Erwin Lemuel G. Oliva
Inquirer.net

THE passage of the electronic commerce law on June 14 created much excitement in the local information and communications technology (ICT) industry. Finally, government had enacted a law that places the Philippines on the virtual map of the global Internet.

However, as the year 2000 comes to an end, the industry touted to drive Philippine economy to greater heights is at a standstill while government tries to resolve political and economic issues brought about by the scandal involving President Estrada.

"The information and communications technology industry began strong this year but will end with a whimper," observed lawyer Josephine Victoria Tañada Yam, president of Lawyer.com.ph.

Rep. Leandro Verceles Jr. of Catanduanes was even more blunt and straightforward when asked to comment on the future of ICT in the Philippines.

"The political crisis is plaguing the ICT industry. I even believe that ICT activities in the country are at a standstill. I kind of think it is," remarked the author of RPWeb, the master plan to wire all Philippine government offices.

Yam and Verceles were guest speakers at the Dec. 19 induction ceremony of Cyberpress Philippines, the country’s first organization of information technology journalists.

As a result of the country’s political crisis, some private sector members of the Information Technology and E-commerce Council (ITECC) decided last month to suspend their participation in the council until

Mr. Estrada resigns. ITECC is the country’s highest ICT policy-making body.

Also in the last two months, two emerging ICT champions left the Estrada Cabinet. Trade Secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas decided to leave on Nov. 2 amid the controversy hounding Mr. Estrada in the wake of Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson’s expose on alleged payoffs to the President by illegal gambling operators.

On Nov. 28, Science Secretary Filemon Uriarte Jr. also decided to step down, but stressed that his leaving was due to personal reasons. Both were members of ITECC -- Roxas as chair and Uriarte as co-chair for the government sector. Uriarte eventually reconsidered his immediate resignation but will only stay on until the end of this month.

All these events indicate that ICT activities have been placed at the "backburner" as government focuses on more pressing problems like the Estrada impeachment trial.

Verceles fears that if the political crisis is prolonged, most of the ICT projects in both government and private sector will be suspended until a new leadership takes up the cudgels. For instance, he indicated that the Department of Budget and Management has frozen the P50 million budget for RPWeb as a result of the political crisis. The project aims to wire at least 3,000 government offices nationwide.

The computerization of the May 2001 elections has also been shelved due to shortage of funds and questions on the "legality" of the granting of the contract to Photokina Marketing Corp. for the P6.5-billion voter identification system project. The project is the second stage of the Commission on Election’s modernization program set to be implemented in the next four years. Another project that involves the use of counting machines during the elections on May 2001 is also at risk of being delayed for the same reasons.

"Everything government needs to do in ICT in the Philippines has been done at this time. However, money should be put into various activities," Verceles said.