Marcos names digital technocrat Henry Aguda new DICT chief
(Photo courtesy of DICT)
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr. has appointed digital technocrat Henry Rhoel Aguda as the new secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
He replaced Ivan Uy, who resigned from the post early this month.
Undersecretary for Special Concerns Paul Mercado then stepped in as the agency’s officer-in-charge while waiting for a new chief to be named.
Aguda resigned as president and chief executive of UnionDigital Bank in August 2024.
He also previously served as the Digital Infrastructure Lead at the Private Sector Advisory Council created by Marcos to assist his administration in boosting innovative synergies between the private and public sectors.
Aguda has experience across the banking, technology, and telecommunications industries.
Before joining UnionDigital Bank, he was board chairman of the City Savings Bank and UBX Philippines.
He also assumed the roles of director of Insular Health Care, BancNet, Metaverse Ventures and Platforms and Philippine Clearing House Corp.; senior executive vice president, among other positions, at Union Bank of the Philippines; and chief technology officer at Amihan Global Strategies, Globe Telecom, Government Service Insurance System, and Digitel.
The new DICT chief was in charge of software development services at WeServ Systems International, led Nextel’s information operations, was assistant vice president at Bayantel Communication Holdings, and managed the corporate data network for the Manila Electric Company.
Aguda earned a degree in mathematics from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1989 and a Juris Doctor from UP Law in 2008, graduating cum laude in both.
He was also a participant in the Strategic Alliance Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and is taking a master’s degree in Applied Business Economics at the University of Asia and the Pacific.
