GMA accepts IT council chairmanship

President Arroyo has accepted the proposal of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to become chairman of the Information Technology and Electronic Commerce Council, Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II said yesterday.

Her chairmanship signals the full commitment of the government and the private sectors to transform the Philippines into a knowledge-based economy, Roxas said.

The President can mandate agencies to move with greater speed and to devote more resources in harnessing the potentials of information and communications technology, the DTI secretary said.

"While ITECC made progress fast, the speed of IT was even faster," he said. "The President’s leadership is a change for more organizational effectiveness."

DTI proposed the ITECC leadership because the President can order all agencies to cut bureaucracy and implement programs and initiatives at shorter deadlines, Roxas said.

The ITECC was constituted as a body to coordinate the ICT and E-commerce public initiatives, programs and projects.

The slowdown in the dotcom and IT companies globally, meanwhile, gives more reason for the President to accept leadership of ITECC.

"The slowdown means we have to have more speed to take advantage," Roxas said.

ITECC is composed of several government agencies with IT-related functions, and representatives of the private sector.

Government agencies in ITECC are DTI, Department of Budget and Management, Department of Transportation and Communications, Department of Education, Culture and Sports, Department of Interior and Local Government, National Economic and Development Authority and the National Computer Center.

Six representatives from the private sector represent the academe, consumer, and industry organizations directly related to the IT and e-commerce. – Mary Ann Reyes