MANILA, Philippines – Senator Edgardo Angara is calling for the creation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

He said this would become the primary agency to coordinate all projects related to e-governance in the Philippines.

Angara, who is one of the leads of the senate Oversight Committee on Science, Technology, and Engineering, said the DICT would ensure provisions on strategic, reliable and cost-efficient IT infrastructure for nation-building and global competitiveness.

"We must develop our government's ICT capabilities in order to provide our Filipinos with adept ICT-enabled programs that will equip them to be globally competitive individuals. Coordination between the private, government and even the academe is perceived to be a good way to combine different perspectives for ICT development," said Angara.

Angara said the E-Government Fund to serve as a special fund for cross-agency and government-initiated ICT projects.

The creation of the DICT is set through Senate Bill 2546, which is co-authored by Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Loren Legarda, Antonio Trillanes IV and Angara. It was filed in August 2008.

Currently, the Commission on Information and Communications Technology, headed by Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua, is the main agency handling different e-government projects, some being funded using the E-Government Fund, which has amounted to several billions of pesos.

The CICT is an interim body that hopes to be replaced by the DICT. Once created, the DICT can implement regulations on government ICT projects as well as regulatory body for IT-related issues affecting the country.