Albay Rep. Joey Salceda on Sunday thanked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for the issuance of Executive Order 32 to expedite the permitting process for telecommunications tower infrastructure to those mandated by existing laws and regulations and preventing the imposition of requirements, such as a resolution by the local councils or Sanggunian.
“The expedited tower permitting policy boosted internet speeds between 2020 and 2022 by 140 percent while reducing prices by as much as 41 percent. Rarely do we do something right by way of policy. And it’s an excellent move on the part of PBBM that he saw the wisdom in reviving it,” he said.
Salceda is pushing for the amendment of the National Building Code to require telecommunications facilities in condominiums and major commercial and government establishments.
EO 32, which was signed on July 4, provides that applications of telecommunications service providers within the prescribed period shall be deemed automatically approved.
Cities and municipalities are also tasked to set up one-stop shops for construction permits for telecommunications facilities.
A zero-backlog policy for applications with government offices shall also be in effect.
“It’s an accomplishment he can certainly tout during the State-of-the-Nation Address,” Salceda said.
He filed House Bill No. 8534 seeking to amend the National Building Code to require condominiums to reserve spaces for telecommunications facilities.
“Buildings or structures and property developments shall be provided, as part of mandatory basic requirements, telecommunications/information and communications technology infrastructure in accordance to the relevant technical specifications and requirements defined by the industry and/or latest Philippine electronics codes,” the measure read.
“Telecom services are now as basic as plumbing. That was certainly the case with the (COVID-19) pandemic. And that is now the case, with work-from-home arrangements,” the Albay lawmaker said.
In Metro Manila alone, there are at least 160,000 condominium units, housing close to one million people, mainly working-class families, students, or young professionals in greatest need of fast and reliable internet, he noted.
“High concentrations of people within limited spaces can be taxing on telecommunications services, especially on bandwidth, unless adequate provision is given for telecommunications facilities.
Without specific mandates to ensure digital connectivity in such complexes, the ability of internet service providers and other telecommunications service providers to deliver to their clients will be significantly hampered,” he said.
“The Building Code, enacted in 1977, could not have anticipated this digital future. But we are now living in that future. The laws should work for us, not constrain us to the limits of previous generations’ imagination,” he added.