PHILIPPINES

STATEMENT BY H.E. RAMON P. SALES
Chairman, Commission on Information and Communications Technology

PHILIPPINE ICT: AN ENABLER OF GROWTH

Mr. Chairman
Excellencies
Honorable Secretary General Yoshio Utsumi
Officials of ITU
Distinguished delegates
Ladies and gentlemen

The Philippine Delegation joins the whole Plenipotentiary 2006 delegations in extending our congratulations to the Republic of Turkey for the excellent preparations that your country has made in hosting this quadrennial event. The next 3 weeks will be very critical as major decisions have to be made, setting directions for ITU for the 2008-2011 cycle. Let me also take this opportunity to convey the gratitude of the Philippine Government to the ITU leadership. To Secretary General Utsumi and Deputy Secretary Blois as well as our hard working Bureau Directors, maraming salamat (thank you) for your contribution and committed stewardship to the Union. We wish you well in your future endeavors within and outside the august walls of the ITU. To the elected Chairman of this Conference and the officers of the various committees, congratulations. On behalf of the Philippine Delegation, let me assure you that you have our fullest cooperation.

Ladies and gentlemen, as we move further into the 21st Century, the Philippines is more than ever committed to ever more deeply capitalize on ICT as one of the key driving forces of the country’s economic development. In 2001, in her desire to effect real changes in Government’s ICT agenda, Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo took over the chairmanship of the Information Technology and Electronic Commerce Council (ITECC). With the chairmanship in the Presidency, the ICT industry was given a champion. ICT was put at the forefront of national priorities.

As information and knowledge becomes a benchmark for a country’s wealth and progress in the digital economy, we aspire to ensure that everyone enjoys the opportunities from ICT, that our people have the confidence and security in the use of ICT. It is within this aspiration that the following become a priority:

One. Building of physical infrastructures. Government is to speed up the building of the telecommunications and network infrastructure through public-private sector partnership. Interconnectivity is a must. A wider public access to a minimum set of communications and information services is also to be ensured through the establishment of operational tele-centers, the provision of broadband services and identified growth areas.

CICT continues to execute Government’s policy in providing universal access and closing the gaps of digital divide through the deployment of ICT facilities, such as the Community e-Centers and other access points in unserved and underserved areas.

Two. Ensuring appropriate policy and legal environment. Government’s role is to continue providing the enabling environment to encourage the growth of ICT and then letting the market decide the technologies. The government is to promote growth and investment.

Three. Developing human capital. The Philippines is reported to be the second highest among Asian countries in the number of training facilities for computer programming and other computer related courses. The Philippines has important elements of the ecosystem to sustain an ICT industry. We have the schools. We have a large English speaking and trainable workforce. We have software development, IT service and electronic manufacturing in place. Our animators are one of the most creative talents in the world. We rank high in the knowledge workers’ benchmark.

Thus, the CICT is committed to elevating further the competitiveness and skills aptitude of our ICT professionals, as well as our teachers and civil servants, through competencies standards and certifications.

The Philippines is a steadfast partner and advocate of the Union in realizing its goals of serving the needs of its members through cooperation and partnership. Predominant in both the technical and policy agenda of ITU and regional organizations are issues on universal service and access, digital divide, telecommunications standards, Internet governance, Cybercrime prevention, and emerging technologies such as NGN and IPV6.

In this regard, the Philippines welcomes this opportunity to once more be an active contributor to the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference as it has done so in the past.

Thank you for the attention.