Alfredo Panlilio (center), president and CEO of PLDT, with other panelists — Maria Aurora G. Garcia, president of Mageo Consulting Inc., and Christian Martin Gonzalez, executive vice president and chief risk officer of ICTSI. (Photo from a video posted on Facebook by Stratbase ADR Institute)
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) should improve the country’s digital infrastructure, Alfredo Panililo, the chief executive officer and president of PLDT, said on Tuesday.
Panlilio made the statement during a panel discussion on hurdles to investment and economic growth as part of the “Pilipinas Conference 2022” organized by Stratbase Albert Del Rosario Institute.
The PLDT executive said that he had spoken to DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy about the issue.
“If [the Department of Public Works and Highways] can ask for a budget for physical highways, why can’t the DICT secretary ask for digital highways? And I think it’s important that there’s a budget of government that will also invest in infrastructure,” Panililo said.
In other countries, he said, it’s the government funding the digital infrastructure.
“So I think where we can help each other is, maybe some investment also coming from the government, and we will help them execute connectivity to those areas,” Panlilio said.
The DICT had previously come under fire during a House budget hearing for failing to use its funds. Uy even called the DICT’s utilization rate “pitiful.”