Eliseo Rio Jr. resigns as DICT Undersecretary

DICT Undersecretary Eliseo Rio Jr. (Photo from his Facebook account)

MANILA, Philippines — Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Undersecretary Eliseo Rio Jr., who led the country’s search for a third telecommunications player, has resigned from his post.

“I feel that I’m no longer needed in DICT,” Rio said Monday in an interview over ANC.

Rio cited his age and working with other officials in the agency as among the reasons why he decided to resign from his post.

“Now, I’m 75. I thought that now would be time to really spend my time with my family,” Rio said.

“Sec. (Gringo) Honasan has brought in young people and maybe they should be given more chance to work,” he added.

Rio, meanwhile, denied having first-hand knowledge of the reported anomaly involving confidential funds at DICT but said he disagrees with DICT having confidential intelligence fund since carrying out intelligence activities are not under the agency’s mandate.

“I have no first-hand knowledge of that anomaly being reported. That did not come from me,” Rio clarified. “What I said is that as far as I’m concerned, DICT does not need any confidential or intelligence fund because it’s not in its mandate to conduct intelligence activities.”

President Rodrigo Duterte has yet to accept his resignation, Rio added.

Rio, a retired general who also served as acting secretary of the agency, was reassigned as the agency’s undersecretary in July 2019 when Gringo Honasan was appointed DICT chief. He also previously served as commissioner of the National Telecommunications Commission.

Edited by KGA