30 May Watch JJ Disini’s Bloomberg interview on the DICT

The new Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) would be important for coordination among different sectors affected by information and technology to encourage economic growth, Atty. JJ Disini said.

In an interview with BloombergTV, he said, “If you don’t have somebody like the DICT to step in, and sort of create coordination among all these other domains, then I think we won’t have this holistic policy to encourage development in all these sectors that are affected by a single emerging technology.”

Disini said that he expects the new department to cut through a lot of bureaucracy, and to have policies that would encourage ICT growth, not just in the BPO industry, but also in software programs and other high value services.

Asked about what set of skills and mindset the new DICT secretary should have, he said that the next president should appoint somebody who has knowledge in various domains, how these emerging technology come about, and how they interact with current regulations.

“I think the most important thing is [the knowledge of] how the Philippines can target its position in a particular sector [in ICT]. We cannot expect to be the leader in all sectors, but we need to make strategic concessions on where we can fit in a particular universe.”

The DICT bill was signed into law on May 23.

For the full interview, visit, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVepRD9e9WI&feature=youtu.be.