Rep Sandro Marcos. Photo: INQUIRER.net file photo / NOY MORCOSO
MANILA, Philippines — Senior Deputy Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte First District Rep. Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos is pushing for the country’s digital transformation through legislative measures he has proposed in the House of Representatives.
Sandro is one of the authors of the SIM Registration Act, the first law signed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., which aims to protect citizens from fraudulent acts perpetrated through phone calls and text messages through the mandatory registration of all SIMs.
READ: SIM card registration enactment lauded
He is also among the principal authors of the proposed E-Governance Law, which seeks to digitalize government services to ensure more efficient delivery of services to the people. The bill aims to “promote the use of the internet, intranet, and emerging technologies within and across government agencies and be able to provide citizen-centric government information and services.”
The young congressman stressed, “We need to make the Philippines future-ready by digitalizing our government and ensuring that our people are ready to be part of a highly-digital society.”
Sandro also stressed the importance of the government’s initiatives to improve internet connectivity and bridge the digital divide through programs of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), such as the Free Wi-Fi Program that prioritizes geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDAs), and through new technologies such as Starlink’s low earth orbit (LEO) satellite network constellation.
Sandro has been helping Ilocos Norte residents adjust to the digital age long before he was elected to Congress. The SANDbox, for instance, encourages young people to innovate, gives local entrepreneurs a location to set up shop, and helps students without Internet or other e-learning equipment.
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