The Philippine Digital Strategy For 2011-2016

Yesterday, as representative of I-Café Pilipinas, I attended a nine-to-five activity called Philippine Digital Strategy Workshop organized by the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) and held at UP Institute of Small Scale Industries (UP-ISSI) in Diliman, Quezon City.  The workshop is aimed at the formulation of the Philippine Digital Strategy (PDS) which will serve as the guide to ICT development in our country over the next five (5) years. The PDS will be included in the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) currently undergoing formulation for eventual implementation by our national government.

CICT, as the proponent of the PDS, is following an inclusive approach in its formulation of the strategic policies on ICT development. It organized the workshop to seek inputs from a broad range of stakeholders and interest groups from government, private sectors, civil society and academe regarding their vision, issues, strategies, targets and programs on four (4) sectors as follows:

1. Cyberservices, Digital Service and Creative Media
2. E-Governance, E-Government, Interoperability and Standards
3. Human Capital, Skills, Training and Education
4. Infrastructure, Universal Access, Digital Inclusion and Broadband

When the plenary breaks into technical working groups (TWGs), I joined the one that tackled the Infrastructure, Universal Access, Digital Inclusion and Broadband. Our TWG agreed on the country’s need for robust and sturdy ICT infrastructures that will provide fast and reliable broadband access to hasten the digital inclusion of all segments of our society and increase the nation’s economic development. The current issues and strategies needed in order to attain the vision for a Digital Philippines were taken up and will form part of the Philippine Digital Strategy for 2011 – 2016.

UPDATE: A copy of the Philippine Digital Strategy for 2011 – 2106 can be found at http://www.scribd.com/doc/58949299/Philippine-Digital-Strategy-2011-2016.