No honeymoon period for DICT’s new chief

DECODED: TECH, TRUTH, AND THREATS

Robert Joseph de Claro takes over the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) at a time when the public has reason to question the DICT’s judgment, priorities, and ability to keep digital services running.

He has no honeymoon period.

The new secretary inherits the mess left by the previous leadership: defaced government websites, disrupted public platforms, services taken offline as a precaution, and a flagship digital platform that buckled under demand. He is not walking into a clean slate. He faces a problem called DICT, and he must hit the ground running to fix it.

The eGovPH Super App is one bright spot. It has shown that government technology can bring useful services closer to people. De Claro should preserve that progress and improve the system behind it.

But the April outages exposed a basic planning failure: a surge in users overwhelmed capacity, and DICT’s undersecretary told senators that 12 government digital systems had to be disabled because the department could not afford the cloud server space. A government that urges people to transact online cannot treat the infrastructure behind those services as an afterthought.

Cybersecurity presents a deeper test. Government sites have been defaced, including a DICT staging website during Cybersecurity Awareness Month. A defacement does not, by itself, prove that personal data or production systems were compromised.

But calling a site “staging” does not end the inquiry. The department must establish whether it was properly isolated, what access the intruder obtained, whether credentials or data were exposed, and what controls failed. The public deserves clear answers, not reassuring labels that leave the important questions unanswered.

The previous DICT administration’s response to the November 5, 2025 threat also deserves scrutiny. DICT promoted Oplan Cyberdome as the government’s defense against a possible DDoS attack. Yet the PNP said its websites became inaccessible after DICT deliberately stopped their hosting as a precaution. A defense plan that protects services by switching them off needs a serious review.

Cybersecurity aims to keep services safe and available wherever possible, not to declare victory after users can no longer reach them.

The Discord episode offered another warning about judgment. The DICT, together with the CICC, an agency attached to DICT, issued a 24-hour ultimatum to platforms to appoint local representatives. Discord was then blocked for several hours. An official later admitted the agency did not understand how Filipinos used Discord for work and education and apologized to affected users. Protecting children online is essential. Acting before understanding the platform’s uses, the impact of blocking it, and the legal basis for such a move is not sound leadership.

De Claro must show that his decisions are based on evidence, law, and technical advice, not emotion or impulse. When the government considers blocking a platform, taking a service offline, or alleging a breach, it must weigh the likely harm, consider less disruptive options, and explain its reasoning. Security decisions affect citizens, businesses, schools, and public trust.

The challenge is not only technical. It is also about governance. DICT must coordinate effectively with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, the National Computer Emergency Response Team, law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and the military’s cyber units. Congress is also considering a cybersecurity agency bill that would transfer the DICT Cybersecurity Bureau’s functions and resources to a new agency. Any reorganization must clarify who leads an incident, who is accountable for failures, and how expertise is retained. The country cannot afford confusion or a prolonged transition while attacks continue.

This is where leadership must be visible. The new secretary should set measurable priorities for service uptime, cloud capacity, disaster recovery, security testing, and incident disclosure. He should identify essential systems, ensure they have reliable funding, and require agencies to fix security weaknesses found in assessments. When something goes wrong, the public should hear what happened, what remains unknown, what is being done, and when the next update will come.

DICT needs a leader, not a content creator. Announcements, videos, slogans, and social media posts may help explain government work, but they cannot replace resilient systems, sound technical judgment, and accountable decisions. The department’s performance should be measured by whether services stay available, whether threats are contained, and whether the public can trust what officials say.

De Claro has a difficult assignment and little time to prove that the department can change course. He must protect what works, confront what failed, and hold those responsible accountable for results. His first months will not be a honeymoon. They will test whether DICT can finally lead the country’s digital transformation competently.