DICT: Konektadong Pinoy IRR done by October 2

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said it has set Oct. 2 as the self-imposed deadline to finish the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for the Konektadong Pinoy Act, which lapsed into law in August.

DICT Secretary Henry Rhoel Aguda, in a press briefing last Friday at the Department of Education (DepEd) central office in Makati, said while they were given 90 days to come out with an IRR, they wanted to accomplish the task well within the deadline.

“We don’t want to cram, we want to finish it before the deadline,” Aguda said in Filipino.

He noted that all industry and sector stakeholders have so far been cooperating with the DICT in the effort.

Last Thursday in Quezon City, the DICT held a second public consultation with representatives of public telecommunication entities and telecommunications associations. The next day, DICT held a public consultation for the crafting of the IRR with the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP), the association of the country’s local government units.

Aguda had earlier called on telecom companies and internet service providers (ISPs) to cooperate, and move quickly along with the DICT, to fast-track the IRR project.

“Most of the concerns are basically about the time element... I hope you all understand. We’re also under pressure to fix as much as we can in terms of the connectivity,” Aguda told executives of telcos and ISPs that were the second group to be gathered for the public consultations, after the first day of consultation last Tuesday which gathered government agencies.

He said telcos and internet connectivity players should submit all the position papers on their different concerns in the next few days while the consultations are being held, such as the spectrum allocations and local government cooperation on right of way issues.

Aguda pointed out they could send their positions on local government concerns, in time for their scheduled consultation with ULAP.