DICT chief seeks EO to speed up data gathering for gov’t portal

DICT Secretary Rodolfo Salalima. (Photo from Globe)

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is urging President Rodrigo Duterte to sign the executive order to compel government offices to transfer their data to DICT for the full implementation of the national government portal.

DICT Secretary Rodolfo Salalima said his department had already submitted a draft executive order to the Office of the President.

“We have now asked the President to issue an EO urging all departments of government to transfer, to migrate all of their data, systems and processing to DICT,” Salalima told reporters in a Palace briefing on Tuesday.

Through a national government portal, Salalima said documents from government agencies like the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) could be done through a one-stop shop website.

He said 125 government agencies had transferred their data to DICT.

“This executive order is only a means to execute the portal plan,” he said. “So I have no doubt that the President will approve the executive order on portal, urging simply all government offices to migrate their data and processes to us.”

Salalima assured government agencies that DICT would ensure the protection of their data.

“I assure you that the DICT will take care of all your data encoded in the databases of all government,” Salalima said.

Salalima also announced on Tuesday that Filipinos could expect a faster internet speed by Sept. 16 after telecommunications companies assured him they would improve their internet speed.

“They promised me, Sept. 16. I will simply follow it up and hope that by Sept. 16, we have a fast Internet,” he said. /atm