2009 State of the Nation Address
The 2009 State of the Nation Address (SONA) is outlined in six (6) focal points along the President’s vision since her assumption of the Presidency in 2001, including her goals as stated in the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) and her Ten-Point Agenda for beating the odds.
• The Macroeconomy: Securing the Fundamentals
• Economic Development: Enhancing Competitiveness• Social Development: Promoting Redistributive Justice; Democratizing Entitlement
• Infrastructure and the super regional Development Strategy
• Good Governance and Political Stability
• Lastly, Agenda for Action in 2010 and Directions Beyond 2010
As I read the full text of PGMA State of the Nation Address (SONA) which happened last July 27, 2009. In her SONA, I identify 3 areas related to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and how these areas can improve our quality of life.
First:
Communication Services
“Sa telecommunications naman, inatasan ko ang Telecommunications Commission na kumilos na tungkol sa mga sumbong na dropped calls at mga nawawalang load sa cellphone. We need to amend the Commonwealth-era Public Service Law.And we need to do it now… “
Policies were implemented promoting systematic and accelerated ICT advancement.
•Removed barriers and allow full competition in the provision of high-speed networks and connectivity. This resulted in the reduction of cost of local internet connections from PhP30 per hour in 2000 to PhP15 per hour in 2008.
•Allocated radio frequencies to allow broadband wireless access network.
•Liberalized the telecommunications environment/ industry to allow the entry of more players, ie, the telecommunication operators (TelCos).
•This enabled the mobile telephone industry to experience robust growth. About 62% of the total populace (or about 56 million out of the 88 million Filipinos) are now mobile telephone subscribers who are connected to 14,506 cell sites, nationwide, as of end of 2008. To date, there are 11 international gateway facility (IGF) operators who can provide international long distance calls; six (6) cellular mobile telephone system operators; 11 public trunk radio operators; 14 inter-exchange carrier licenses that service other carriers’ traffic using their own networks; and, 74 local exchange operators or those with fixed line services.
•Authorized the retail-pricing for local telephone lines by allowing local exchange carriers to design price packages.
Second:
Business Process Outsourcing
“Kung noong nakaraan, lumakas ang electronics, today we are creating wealth by developing the BPO and tourism sectors as additional engines of growth. Electronics and other manufactured exports rise and fall in accordance with the state of the world economy. But BPO remains resilient.”The Philippine Business Process Outsourcing sector caters to varied support services functions. The rise of Animation, Software Development and Medical Transcription in 2003 became an addition to promising BPO investments that were portrayed in the succeeding years. It marked the rise of digital servicing, niche service operations and marketing using information technology. Later on, outsourcing services were popularized in the following support service functions, namely: (1) Human Resources such as recruitment and payroll; (2) Customer Service and helpdesk functions; (3) Procurement and materials management; (4) proof reading and editing; and (5) layout and design. Among the top contact centers in the country are Sykes, Convergys, Ambergis, and People Support. Some of the companies that have set-up internal BPO operations in the country include HSBC, AIG Business Processing Services, Chevron Texaco, Procter and Gamble Asia Pt. Ltd., Shell Shared Services, among others.
Third:
Automated Elections
“As the seeds of fundamental political reform are planted, let us address the highest exercise of democracy -- voting! In 2001, I said we would finance fully automated elections. We got it, thanks to Congress..”The Administration supports the modernization of the electoral system to ensure the credibility of the polls. It promotes solid traits among candidates such as deportment, simple and dignified lifestyle, and readiness to act rather than grandstand. With the support of Congress, the President signed into law RA 9369 s. 2007, the Amended Automated Elections Law prescribing full automation of the national-local elections on 10 May 2010. Subsequently, the amount of PhP11.3 billion as supplemental budget was appropriated for automated elections through the RA 9525 which the President signed into law in March 2009. The DBM has already released to COMELEC on 30 April 2009 the SARO containing the said amount.
To date, COMELEC has completed the bidding for the procurement of more than 80,000 machines for the Precinct Counting Optical Scan (PCOS)
References:
http://www.gov.ph/sona/sona2009/2009_SONA_TECHNICAL_REPORT.pdfhttp://jlp-law.com/blog/state-of-the-nation-address-sona-2009/
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