Editor's Note

The so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution has ushered the Digital Age and has in turn been causing massive and unprecedented changes in the world we live in. Undoubtedly, information and communications technology is currently triggering and fueling these immense global transformation. The phrase "information and communication technologies" has been used by academic researchers since the 1980s. On the other hand, the abbreviation "ICT" became popular after it was used in a report submitted to the Government of the United Kingdom by Henry Dennistoun Stevenson in 1997.

Today, when we talk of ICT, we refer to all the best and current tools available to make life easier for individuals and society as a whole. The Philippine Government gave so much premium to this that a full-blown department was created through the passage of Republic Act 10844 in May 2016, to focus on and proactively address the ICT needs of the country. The Department of Information and Communications Technology or DICT is tasked to strengthen its efforts on the following focus areas: Policy and Planning, Improved Public Access, Resource-Sharing and Capacity-Building, and Consumer Protection and Industry Development. Moreover, the DICT is expected to spearhead the following endeavors: Nation building Through ICT, Safeguarding of Information, and Advancement of ICT in the Philippines.

There is wisdom in creating such as a new department in the executive branch. Truth be told, ICT permeates all aspects of life. It has drastically changed how people work, communicate, learn and live. Indeed, the ever-changing face of ICT has richly provided newer, better, more innovative, more efficient, and quicker ways for people to interact, network, seek help, gain access to information, and learn. It definitely continues to revolutionize all parts of the human experience.

Besides its presence everywhere, ICT has an immense economic significance. Its importance to economic development and business growth not only in our country but globally has been so monumental that it is credited with ushering in what many have labeled, as above mentioned, the Fourth Industrial Revolution. And because of this, the Philippine Government must adopt and pursue a well-considered policy direction to ensure that ICT is properly leveraged for the country’s economic, societal and interpersonal transactions and interactions.

With ICT’s huge and largely positive impact on people’s lives, it must thus be a priority for the government to, among others, make internet access more reliable and inexpensive to our many countrymen who, to date, still do not have access to high-speed internet. The Digital Divide, much like the gaping chasm between the rich and the poor, must be narrowed. This is a huge task for the DICT; and it takes both a patriotic and Rotarian heart to assiduously pursue this. Thankfully, we have a Manila Rotarian at the helm of the DICT. We are thus in good hands.