House panel OKs raps vs ex-DICT chief

MANILA, Philippines — A committee of the House of Representatives has recommended the filing of charges against former Department of Information and Communications Technology secretary Eliseo Rio over the implementation of the government’s P1.3-billion free WiFi program.

“I am proud to report that we have recommended to file charges against former secretary Rio for his negligence in entering into agreements with the UN (United Nations) Development Program,” Diwa party-list Rep. Michael Edgar Aglipay, who chairs the House committee on good government, said.

Aglipay added that they have reached the conclusion after “three hearings and almost five months of deliberations and committee report preparation.”

Committee Report 1370 on the findings of House Resolution 1751 – the basis for the legislative inquiry, in aid of legislation – was “approved and adopted” by the House plenary last month, according to the administration lawmaker.

The Aglipay panel found Rio to have been “negligent” in entering into agreements with the UNDP as well as for the “poor implementation of the project and failure to look out for best interest of the Filipino people.”

Rio is the predecessor of Gregorio Honasan II, who is now seeking re-election to the Senate.

“We have also been able to pressure the UNDP through the new administration of DICT to return the funds paid to it,” Aglipay told reporters through the Viber thread he made for journalists covering the House.

“The committee report is very comprehensive and it shows the negligence of the head of agency at that time to implement a 6,000-site free WiFi nationwide, where funding for the project was P1.3 billion,” he said.

The House panel recommended the filing of graft charges against Rio, and for allegedly violating the Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct for Public Officials over alleged irregularities in the implementation of the Free Public Internet Access Program.

As far as the Aglipay committee is concerned, the DICT’s partnership with the UNDP was “not the best option” at the time. Rio was the signatory to the DICT-UNDP financing agreement.

Lawmakers said the DICT, then under the leadership of Rio, should have procured its own program without the need for the UNDP, thus making him liable for misfeasance and nonfeasance, after he transferred the management of such funds to the Pipol Konek Project.

The DICT and the UNDP entered into a financing agreement in 2018, which aimed to roll out on a national scale free WiFi sites at selected locations to benefit remote communities across the country.