harness it: seeking transformation in the philippines

National Strategies to Harness

Information Technology: Seeking

Transformation in the Philippines

Nagy K. Hanna, Peter T. Knight 2011Springer Science & Business Media

DM 218 Information Technology Management

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have become commonplace entities in all aspects of life. Across the past twenty years the use of ICT has fundamentally changed the practices and procedures of nearly all forms of Endeavour within business and governance

Syed Noor-Ul-Amin (2013)

The Philippines:

The Quest for

Genuine

e-Development

Sherwin E. Ona, Estefante Ulit and Nagy K. Hanna (2011)

Objective• Analyze recent and ongoing efforts to break antidevelopment

cycle by harnessing ICT• Review of selected on-going Philippine ICT for development

initiatives as traditional – disjointed, unsustainable, and short-term oriented.

• Provide an overview of the socioeconomic development thrust from 1986-2010

• The evolving ICT in the Philippine’s successive development strategies.

• Analyzes the Philippine national ICT strategies, e-policies, ICT institution, the selected public sector led ICT4D

• The role of the private sector in supporting the ICT industries.

• Finally, it reviews encouraging development in the private sector led cyber services, telecommunications, and semiconductor manufacturing industries

After more than a 100 years of

independence and its outstanding growth

performance during the 1950s and 1960s, the

Philippines has been regarded as a perennial

laggard. – unable to achieve sustained growth,

thus, earning the label of an “ antidevelopment

state”. The country has been faces numerous

development challenges.

Ona, et al (2011)

The Philippines as being at a critical point in its

history, facing the choice of either continuing the

“traditional” approaches or adopting a transformational

approach for ICT role in national development. Although

the ongoing ICT revolution holds much promise, realizing

the fruits remains a daunting challenge for the

Philippines. Citing the need to break the

antidevelopment cycle, there is a need for the

Philippines to adopt an e-transformation perspective and

consider ICT’s transformational role, it is believe that this

perspective can help policy makers chart a path toward

genuine e-development.

Breaking the Antidevelopment Cycle

As early as 1990 the Philippines

development plan reflected a strong

recognition of ICT as an enabler of

productivity and economic growth.

Role of ICT in National Development

This recognition was further advanced through

the supplemental plan as reflected in the National IT

Agenda 21 (1977), the e-Philippines Strategy 2000

and Strategic ICT Roadmap (2006) and in efforts to

enhance ICT Institutions.

From a merely a computer center in the late

1970s, the National IT and E-Commerce Promotion

Councils were created in 1994, and 1998

respectively. These two councils were later merged

in 2000 into the IT and E-commerce Council

(ITECC). Responding to the global trend toward

convergence of communication and information

technology, the Philippines recognized the need to

give prominence and authority to ITECC by

creating a presidential commission

http://www.itecc.gov.ph/

Profile of a Digital Filipino

There were 2.5 million subscribers for the 488

National Telecommunications Commission (NTCC)

registered Internet Service Providers (ISP) in 2009,

accounting for only 3% off the total population (dela Pena,

2009). However, Yahoo, estimates that 16% of the

Philippine population is browsing and using the internet.

This has been facilitated by a remarkable rise in the

number of internet cafes, Community e-centers, and

other public access points where users who can not

afford subscription fees off the ISPs in the country can

still access the internet.

A majority of Filipino internauts rely on

internet cafes for internet connectivity, as well

as those who go to school and work online.

These declines maybe compensated by the

increase of internet access at home by 4%.

Furthermore, there is noticeable rise in the

percentage of Filipinos who use mobile devices

to connect to the internet, from 0 - 58%. Those

who used mobile devices for internet access

have sending/reading instant messages and

emails as their on top online activities.

https://telehealth.ph/.../internet-social-

media-and-mobile-use-of-filipino

The widespread utilization

of mobile phones is another

feature of the Philippine feature

of the Philippines digital

societies. There are currently 90

million mobile subscribers with

the mobile penetration rate of

96% for the total population

(Mendez, et all, 2007). This

consequently results in heavy

usage of short messaging

service (SMS) by Filipinos led to

the Philippines as texting capital

of the world.Tan, 2015

• By 2001, the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT) replaces ITECC.

• Plans were also accompanied by laws and policies to promote the use of ICT on enable agriculture and fisheries modernization, promote good governance through the LGCC, the automated election and poverty alleviation laws, enhance human security and anti-pornography laws

Summary of Development Initiatives from 1986 to 2010

Administration MTDA Enacted laws

on

Development

and ICT

Strategic ICT

Policies

Aquino (1986-

1992)

Restoration of

democracy;

Increase rural

productivity;

Emphasis on

social equity thru

land reform;

Comprehensive

Agrarian Reform

Law;

Local

Government

Code (LGC) of

1991

Administrative

guidance for the

use of ICT in

improving

delivery of

government

services

Administration MTDA Enacted laws on

Development and ICT

Strategic ICT

Policies

Ramos (1992-

1988)

Philippine

reform;

Agriculture and

Fisheries

Modernization Act (RA

8435);

Social Reform and

Poverty Alleviation law;

Public

Telecommunication Act

National IT

Plan

Estrada (1998-

2010

Angat Pinoy

2004

addressing

needs of the

poorest of

the poor

E-Commerce

(RA 8792)

E-Philippine

strategy

creation of the

ITECCC

Administr

ation

MTDA Enacted laws

on

Development

and ICT

Strategic ICT

Policies

Arroyo

2001-2010

Beat the Odds

Sustained

Economic

Growth;

Increase

economic

Competitiven

eness

Human Security

Act (RA 9372)

Anti-child

Pornography Act

(RA 9775)

Election

Modernization

Act

E-P

Strategic ICT

Roadmap

Creation of

CITC

Overview of the Current Initiatives

• How ICT is being used to achieve sustained economic growth.

• A snapshoot of digital Filipino and their ICT enabled society

• Provide an overview of the various ICT related government-led responses to break the antidevelopment cycle

Initially computers were used to

teach computer programming but the

development of the microprocessor in

the early 1970s saw the introduction of

affordable microcomputers into schools

at a rapid rate. Computers and

applications of technology became

more pervasive in society which led to a

concern about the need for computing

skills in everyday life.Helena T. Agbajor, E.E. Asamaigo, A. Anigala - 2014

The 1990s was the decade of computer

communications and information access, particularly with

the popularity and accessibility of internet-based services

such as electronic mail and the World Wide Web (WWW).

With the world moving rapidly into digital

media and information, the role of ICT in

education is becoming more and more

important and this importance will continue to

grow and develop in the 21st century.

The Philippine Quest for

Genuine e-DevelopmentProposed e-policies (legislative bills)

Creation of DICT Cyber-security bill E-Government bill FOI bill

Proposes the creation of an executive department focusing on ICT, basically calling for the merging of government ICT functions and units

Seen as a factor in creating a more stable ICT environment and at the same time providing more legal basis for law enforcement agencies to prosecute cyber criminals

Provides frameworks and models for the procurement and development of ICT for the purpose of dispensing government services and employing good governance

Require government agencies to releasepertinent information on its transactions upon request off citizens and concerned groups and penalized government officials for most adhering to its transparency statutes.

ICT4D Projects in the Philippines

Category ICT Application Number of

Projects

Political/Governance

/empowerment

e-Government

e-governance

277

Economic/livelihood e-Business

e-Employment

e-Agriculture

44

1

245

Social/education e-Learning

e-Health

e-Environment

129

23

32

Infrastructure /access E-Science 59

Source: Tiglao and Alampay (2005)

In an effort to make government more

accessible to its constituents, the office off

the President initiated the creation of the

Philippine government (http//www.gov.ph)

• E-Governance was defined by kasubiene (2007)

Farhan and Sanderson (2009) as the process

and structures pertinent to electronic delivering

of government services to the public.

• Is a relevant to government processes in the use

of ICT by the government agencies for

transforming relations with citizens, businesses,

government employees and other arms of

government in the delivery of services (Lallana,

Pascual, Soriano (2002).

Website was defined by Parajuli

(2007) as a virtual location used by any

government organization having a unique

uniform resource locator catering the need

of all the intended users by providing

information through multi media

components. Among the top technologies

being implemented by e-Government ,

websites ranked 1st (Steins, 2002).

With government websites, forms and

transactions became widely accessible in

the sense that tracking one’s application

are being made possible in the easiest

manner (Kaltra and Verna (2005). The use

of websites in government service reinforce

the governments’ commitment to thrive

electronically and add new dimensions to

the ways of the government in delivering

physical delivery of its services.

• E-government projects are monitored and integrated by DOST. There is a CIO Forum where CIO from government and private sectors can share their experience about ICT development, current trend or issues. CIOF is the government organization that promote the strategic and wider use of ICT

Source: T. Obi, N. Iwasaki (2015)

The development ranking of Philippines in the world e-Government is 78.

Kokula Krishna hari K , Saikishore Elangovan - 2014

Rank Country e-Government readiness index

1 Singapore 0.746 2 South Korea 0.744 3

Japan 0.693 4 Philippines 0.574 5

Indrajit Banerjee (2007)

On line Servicese-Procurement portal of the Philippines is

managed by DBM in accordance with Government Act of 2003. All government institutions are requested to use the portal for their publication and announcements


E-Tax System

The system offers various services related to taxation for the citizens including business enterprises. There are full set of tax documents that could be downloaded by citizens


E-Customs


facilities to monitor the process of

trading from checking the

documents to releasing of goods.

The trader could predict the time

needed for this processes. This

enable the trader to minimize the

cost, thus, illegal payment in the

customs processes.

E-Participation

To engage public participation using ICT,

most of government portals in the Philippines

use the popular social media such as twitter

and face book. Email, forum, newsletter are the

model that has been implemented in some

government portal prior to the social media

booming.


E-Health

The application of surveillance of diseases and injuries. There is greater demand for efficiencies and high expectations from the DOH to deliver quality care, services and outcomes (DOH, 2013).

The application of E-

health in the Philippines has

continuously advanced and

yielded considerable

benefits to an individual and

public health. ICTT has

been used to improve the

timeliness and accuracy of

health reporting to facilities

monitoring and

Tan, 2013

Its programmed includes:

• Capacity building and policy advice for the use of technologies in education, particularly in emerging domains such as mobile learning

• Ensuring that teachers have the skills necessary to use ICTs in all aspects of their professional practice through tools such as the ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (ICT CFT)

• Supporting the use and development of multilingual educational resources and software which are available for use and re-use as a result of open licenses (open educational resources – OER; free and open source software – FOSS)

• Promoting ICTs for inclusive education, including for persons with disabilities and gender equality

• Collecting statistics and developing indicators on the use of ICTs in education

• Providing policy support to ensure that the potential of ICTs are harnessed effectively throughout the education system

ICT in Education

http://en.unesco.org/themes/ict-education

ICT in Education

• Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) play an increasingly important role in the way we communicate, learn and live.

• The challenge is to effectively harness these technologies in a way that serves the interests of learners and the larger teaching/learning community

Cyber Security

It is based on UNICITRAL Model Law 3 of

electronic documents or messages into

evidence, the onus of proof in providing an

electronic document has not been tampered

with, and other procedural matters relating to

using electronic data as evidence (WIPO, 2014)

The Philippines passed the e-

Commerce Act in 2000. This Act has

been complemented by

administrative orders in areas such

as electronic evidence, e-consumer

protection, digital signature, e-

banking, e-payment in government

2014 UN e-

Government

Ranking

1 Korea

2 Australia

3 Singapore

4 France

5 Netherlands

6 Japan

7 USA

8 UK

9 New Zealand

10 Finland


E-Government

Development Index (EGDI)

very high EGDI” with index values in the

range of 0.75 to 1.00

Philippines Middle EGDI (Between 0.25 and 0.50)

Job Generation and Revenue

Growth in the Philippine Cyber

ServicesCyber services sector 2005 2006 2010

Customer contact 112,000 179,200 506,500

Back Office 22,500 40,500 337,000

Software development 12,000 15,600 44,600

Medical transcription 5,500 13,800 114,700

Animation 4,500 6,800 24,400

Others 6,750 10,100 55,600

Total 163,250 266,000 1,082,800

Revenue (US$ M) 2.184 3.484 12.793

Source: Asia e-Government Forum (2008)

By staggering 384% (Sept, 2010). The Philippine

semiconductor sector supplies 10% of the world’s

semiconductor manufacturing services, prospects for

growth seem to be bright. SEIPI projects that by 2016

the total investments in the sector will total to US $ 50

Million

National Telecommunications Commission

As an attached agency of the

Department of Transportation and

Communications (DOTC), the NTC is a

regulatory agency providing an environment

that ensures reliable, affordable and viable

infrastructure and ICT services accessible

to all (NTC,2005). In general, the creation

of national ICT strategies throughout the

years has been characterized as a multi-

sect oral/multi-stakeholder effort.

Government was cognizant of the crucial

role of the private sector and civil society in

the crafting of national ICT strategies.

Department of Trade and Industry

The Department’s effort to promote entrepreneurship

and export development endeavor to provide an ICT

enabled environment to promote local products and

services. DTI is also the agency tasked to manage ICT

parks and the Philippine Export Development Council,

which identifies ICT services as one of its priority exports

(Dela Pena, et al, 2009).

The DTI’s main role is to contribute to the

country’s goal of achieving economic growth

towards poverty reduction. The department’s

mandate calls for the expansion of Philippine

exports, increase in investments and the

development and promotion of the country’s

micro, small, and medium enterprises (DTI,

2008).

With the Philippine being recognized as a

leading provider of cyber-services and semi

conductor manufacturing, DTI is actively

partnering with private sector organizations such

as Business Processing association of the

Philippines, (the Philippine Software Industry

Association), the Animation Council of the

Philippines Inc., and Semiconductor and

Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Inc.

(DTI, 2008)

Source: Saravia, 2012

Commission on Information and

Communications Technology

Recognizing the need to harness ICT

and coordinate private and public sector initiatives, the

government created a national IT Council (1994) and an

E-Commerce Promotion Council (1998). The global

trend toward convergence of IT and telecommunications

systems presented a new challenge for the Philippines.

As a result, a merger of the councils took place in 2000

and the CICT was created in 2001. Consequently, the

national computer Center (NCC) and

Telecommunications Office were placed under the

administrative supervision of CICT.

CICT is now the primary government agency tasked to

oversee planning, policy directions, program

coordination and implementation of ICT related

endeavors in the Philippines. Recognizing the need

for leadership in pushing for an expanded role for ICT

in the country’s development agenda, CICT was

placed directly under the Office off the President,

republic of the Philippines.

The commission was mandated to push the e-

Philippines strategy by providing ICT infrastructure

and resources or nation building and global

competitiveness, promoting the use of ICTs in

different sectors, creating a policy and legal

environment to benefit various ICT stakeholders,

guaranteeing

The Philippines has created a variety

of institutions to lead the development

and implementation of national ICT

policies and strategies. However, no

formal assessment has been made of

ICT leadership institution or their

capacities, nor their interactions, among

themselves and with other political and

economic institutions.

Lacking such assessments, we can draw

broad characterizations, without pinpointing the

underlying factors contributing to current

performance. It appears that the sum is less

than the parts. Roles, responsibilities and

programs tend to overlap, and are not

strategically and synergistically managed.

Accountability for performance remains weak.

Moreover these institution suffer from common

civil service constraints that hinder their ability to

compete with the private sector in this dynamic

sector and to attract highly skilled staff.

Human capital development was

considered an important pillar of the

roadmap. Through the national ICTT

Competency Standards (NICS), the

roadmap initially targeted public school

teachers in the basic and primary

education levels. The roadmap also

outlined initiatives to promote cooperation

with other government agencies especially

the DepEd and TESDA for vocational

training.

Pushing for New National ICT

Strategy (2011-2015)

The revised ICT roadmap,

renamed as PDS which is

focusing on four ICT subthemes:

Human Capital development, e-

government, infrastructure, and

cyber-services. The PDS is

expected to chart ICT’s

development in the Philippines up

to 2016. It adheres to the overall

theme of digital inclusion right

down to the barangay level.

More is yet to Come?

Can the Philippines expect more growth to come

from its ICT industry? Multinational vendors are

progressively expanding to reach markets in Cebu and

Davao. As we from ICT products for the consumer

market, vendors are also exploring cloud computing

service opportunities in the Philippines, particularly for

document management system and web security The

increase in the demand for hardware is driven by the

growth in the BPO sector as well ass the promulgation

of government initiatives which require computer

hardware resources (Companiesandmarkets.com, 2010).

Indeed, we can expect robust growth in the

Philippine ICT industry in the years to come.

Even though it has a yet to become an

effective user of ICT for improving services for the

poor and the economy at large. National ICT

strategies have continued to evolve, initially

focusing on opening the monopolized

telecommunications industry and the

creation/diffusion of ICT enabled services to

develop a robust ICT market. Subsequent national

ICT priorities have progressed toward improving

the quality of life through he creation of a more

digitally inclusive society and reform oriented use

of ICT in governance.

Enacted laws on automated elections,

SMEs, poverty alleviations, agriculture, and

fisheries modernization aimed to diffuse the

benefits of ICT especially to marginalized

groups and for political reform.

ICT diffusion projects carried out under the

roadmap focused on empowering local communities.

Local governments were prioritized through the e-LGU

project, which provided LGUs with a Real Property Tax

system and Business Registration and Licensing

System. Community e-Centers (CeC) were also

established, in partnership with private sector, to provide

municipalities with access to information via internet).

These projects served as a conduit

for efficient delivery of government

services, and as a venue to

promote participation by

underserved communities

(Philippine CeC Roadmap, 2007).

The need for upgrading the ICT

infrastructure was recognized by launching the

Philippine Cyber Corregidor (PCC) in 2005.

Under a Private-Public Partnership (PPP)

arrangement, the project intended to provide a

nationwide network-telecommunication

backbone for companies primarily engaged in

providing cyber-services in the areas of

animation, Business \processing \outsourcing

(BPO), medical transcription, and software

development.

Quest for Genuine e-Development

There were projects o the establishments of

multipurpose telecenters; e-health for Municipal Health

Office services; and AgriNet for the information on crop

marketability, agriculture geography, and weather.

Additionally e-tourism was promoted to increase

economic growth and increase this source of revenue in

thee rural areas. Finally, the e-PS included e-knowledge

which gave priority to the enhancement of ICT related

knowledge and skills in both basic education and

professional training.

2006 ICT Strategic Road Map

The Philippine Strategic ICT Road Map identified

flagship project and key strategic initiatives of the Arroyo

Administration (2001-2010). The Road map and

Associated Principles asserted the following:

o ICT plays a critical role in economic growth and

development

o ICT is a tool for empowerment of individual and good

governance

o The emergence of the Philippine Information Society

will give rise to Sovereign individuals

o To achieve the full vision of information

society, it is necessary to adopt a multi-

stakeholders approach through creative

institutional arrangements and partnership

with the private sector and civil society

o A need to develop human capital to ensure

effective utilization of ICT

o Emphasis should be placed on the creation

of local digital content and to assure access

and its availability

References

Nagy K. Hanna, Peter T. Knight (2011) National Strategies to Harness

Information Technology: Seeking Transformation in Singapore,

Finland, the Philippines, and South Africa. Springer Science &

Business Media

T. Obi, N. Iwasaki (2015) A Decade of World E-Government Rankings

https:/googlrbooks.com.ph

World e-Government Ranking 2014

https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/Portals/egovkb/Documents/un

/2014-Survey/Chapter1.pdf