The master’s degree of former Senator Gregorio Honasan II in management makes him qualified to lead the Department of Information and Communications Technology as its secretary, the Palace said on Tuesday amid concerns about the former senator’s qualifications in leading a highly-technical department.
Speaking to Palace reporters, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo vouched for the skills of the newest addition to President Rodrigo Duterte’s Cabinet, noting that Honasan graduated from the Asian Institute of Management with a Master’s in Business Management.
“He is an AIM graduate with a degree in management. In a department, you need to have expertise in management because experts can be hired as consultants,” Panelo said in a Palace press briefing.
According to Panelo, the 71-year-old lawmaker-turned-government-official believed he was tasked to head the DICT based on managerial and administerial skills.
“You know what Greg Honasan told us last night? He said, ‘I was appointed not on my expertise in this line. I was appointed as a manager.’ And he has an AIM degree for that. He can just get consultants,” he added.
On Monday afternoon, Honasan took his oath before the President, replacing former acting chief Eliseo Rio Jr. Panelo said Honasan was “warmly received” by the President’s official family during the 39th Cabinet meeting.
“We are confident that Secretary Honasan would perform well in his new assignment as chief of the DICT, which is headed for exciting times as our people expect the full rollout of the national fiber optic cable network and operationalization of the country’s third major telecommunications player,” the Palace official said in a statement late Monday.
“We likewise believe that he would continue and improve on the good plans and programs of his predecessor, Mr. Eliseo Mijares Rio Jr., whose leadership is credited for the improvement of e-governance which reduced queues at government offices, among other countless accomplishments,” he added.
However, according to the law, top officials of the DICT are required to have at least seven years of competence and expertise in any of the following fields such as information and communications technology, information technology service management, information security management, cybersecurity, data privacy, e-Commerce, or human capital development in the ICT sector.
This provision under the Republic Act 10844, the law which created the DICT, sparked questions about Honasan’s qualification.
Despite this, the Palace still claimed tht Honasan has a “wealth of experience.”
“Sec. Honasan has a wealth of experience not only in legislation as a Senator for 21 years, in the military science, as a military officer for sixteen years, and a military renegade for seven years,” Panelo said, stressing that his AIM master’s degree in management will “certainly help him in his new role in the Executive Branch.”
“We wish Sec. Honasan all the best,” he added.
The Palace previously said it would leave to the Commission on Appointments to decide whether the former lawmaker qualifies to the said requirement or not.
Meanwhile, saying that only 17 of country’s 112 state universities and colleges (SUCs) have been installed free Wi-Fi hotspots, Senator Sonny Angara urged new DICT Secretary Honasan to hasten the setting up of free internet in the SUCs.
“That’s a low 15 percent accomplishment rate,” said Angara on the current state of free wifi based on the DICT data as of December 2018 submitted to the Senate during the hearings for the 2019 national budget.
“These institutions of higher learning are supposed to be priority areas in the roll-out plan but it appears that they have become last-mile targets,” said Angara.
But he is confident that that with Secretary Honasan at the helm of DICT, this program will be carried out with a greater sense of urgency.”
“The setting up of free Wi-Fi should not the only one to be hastened but also the internet speed,” the senator said, noting that faster internet remains to be attained in a country, which ironically has one of the highest social media subscription rates in the world.
Schools have been identified as priority sites for the implementation of the Nationwide Free Public Internet Access Program authorized under Republic Act 10929, of which Angara is a co-author.
He said funding for the implementation of the program should not be a problem because annually, Congress has not been remiss in providing appropriations to implement the law.
The free public Wi-Fi project has a total budget of P1.7 billion for 2018, of which P326 million is for the installation of hotspots in SUCs, while the balance of P1.36 billion is for other public areas such as town halls, airports and other transportation terminals.
However, halfway into the year, DICT officials, upon questioning by senators, admitted that they had utilized a mere 10 percent of the P1.7 billion appropriated for 2018.
According to Angara, free internet connectivity in SUCs can help students with their research, school assignments and projects.
With free Wi-Fi access, Angara said devices such as laptops, tablets and smartphones can connect students to a wealth of text, audio and video content not found in textbooks.
The free Wi fi, he said, could also help students to keep in touch with their families and loved ones.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, on the other hand, said he is confident that Honasan will be time-on-target in meeting the timetable for the completion of needed reforms in the IT sector, which underpins our economy.
“Of particular interest to me, and the general public, is the delay in the rollout of the Free Public Wi-Fi Hotspots, a program he ardently supported in the Senate,” he said.
He said that the government has appropriated almost P8 billion since the project’s inception in 2015.
As of June 2019, only 2,677 sites have been made operational, out of the cumulative target of 34,236 sites by end of the year.
“If this pace will not accelerate, the target of installing 100,349 sites by 2026 will be impossible to meet,” he said.