Lawmaker says DICT budget deferment opens door for funding reassessment

• Courtesy of FPJ Panday Bayanihan Party-list Rep. Brian Poe

The deferment of the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s (DICT) proposed budget could give lawmakers more time to determine whether the agency has enough funding for its critical programs, FPJ Panday Bayanihan Party-list Rep. Brian Poe said.

In an exclusive interview with TechWatch PH on the sidelines of an AI Leadership event, Poe said the deferment should not be interpreted as the DICT losing its budget, but rather as an opportunity for Congress to reassess the agency’s proposed funding.

“Kaya ang deferment doesn’t mean na hindi sila magkakaroon ng budget at all. Ang deferment means, it will be taken up at a later date during the budget process,” Poe said.

Poe said lawmakers could use the period before deliberations resume to determine whether the proposed funding is sufficient for the DICT’s programs.

“Pero from now until that later date, we reassess natin kung sapat ang pondo nila. Because remember, the deferment doesn’t mean that lahat ng budget ng DICT ay mawawala. It means an assessment,” he said.

He added that the assessment could result in additional funding for programs that lawmakers determine need greater support.

“So, kung nasa assessment namin na kulang ang pondo sa mga critical programs and industries ng DICT, then that means that we’ll have to increase the funding for that. So it’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s more of being fiscally responsible,” Poe said.

Poe acknowledged concerns surrounding the agency, particularly on cybersecurity, social media and the country’s pace of digitalization compared with its Southeast Asian neighbors.

“There are new numerous uh cybersecurity concerns, there are numerous social media concerns that need to be addressed. Arguably, we’re falling behind in terms of our digitization race against our neighbors in ASEAN,” Poe said.

He said these concerns give lawmakers grounds to reassess the DICT’s proposed spending plan.

“So, there are grounds for uh my colleagues in Congress to say that maybe we need to take a step step back and and and reassess the budget of the Department of Information Communications Technology (DICT),” Poe said.

However, Poe, who sponsored the department’s budget, also pointed to DICT programs that he said have made progress, including free Wi-Fi and the eGov Super App.

“However, as the sponsor of uh the department’s budget, I’d like to argue that the DICT has made significant progress in fields like free Wi-Fi, the eGov Super App uh which has made the bureaucratic processes of many government agencies more quicker and more efficient,” he said.

Poe said the DICT should listen to legislators as deliberations on its budget move forward, saying lawmakers are raising concerns coming from their constituents.

“These are real concerns that the DICT needs to address. And hindi na sapat ‘yung, ah, nag-submit lang tayo ng ah, ng complaint, because at the end of the day, our constituents demand action for very reasonable reasons,” he said.