This document summarizes the role of ICT in empowering Filipino youth. It discusses how the Philippine government is using ICT to promote socio-economic development and narrow the digital divide. Key initiatives discussed include the Community e-Centers project, Mobile IT Classrooms, and the BRIDGEIT program which delivers educational materials to schools using mobile phones. The document also outlines several Philippine laws and policies that protect youth and recognize their important role in nation-building, including provisions for monitoring youth programs and projects. Overall the document advocates for harnessing ICT to nurture and empower Filipino youth.

1. ICT AND THE EMPOWERMENT OF
THE FILIPINO YOUTH
Deputy Commissioner KATHLEEN G. HECETA,
First Philippine Youth Consultative Meeting on WSIS,
Asian Development Bank Headquarters, 08 September 2003

2. What is WSIS?
It is a single high-level event that brings together Heads
of State, Executive Heads of the United Nations agencies,
industry leaders, non-governmental organizations, media
representatives, and the civil society to assemble at a
high-level gathering and develop a better understanding of
the ICT revolution and its impact on the International
Community.

3. What is the significance of WSIS to the country?
The Arroyo
Administration
declared ICT as
one of the pillars
necessary to push
the country’s
socio-economic
agenda.

4. What is the expected outcome of the WSIS?
1. Develop and foster a clear statement of political will
and a concrete plan of action for achieving the goals of
the Information Society, while fully reflecting all the
different interests at stake.
2. Offer a unique opportunity for global community to
reflect, discuss and give shape to our common destiny
in an era when countries and peoples are
interconnected as never before.

5. Objective, goals and targets of WSIS: BENCHMARKS
(WSIS Intersessional meeting)
• All villages to be connected by 2010, with a community
access point by 2015.
• 90 per cent of the world’s population to be within wireless
coverage by 2010 and 100 per cent by 2015.
• All universities to be connected by 2005, all secondary
schools by 2010 and all primary schools by 2015.
• All scientific research centres to be connected by 2005.
• All public libraries to be connected by 2006 and all cultural
centres, museums and archives by 2010.
• All hospitals to be connected by 2005 and health centres
by 2010.

6. • All central government departments to have a website and
e-mail address by 2005 and all local government
departments by 2010.
• All primary and secondary school curicula to be revised to
meet the challenges of the information society by 2006.
• All of the world’s population to have access to domestic radio
services by 2010 and domestic TV services by 2006.
• The necessary technical conditions should be in place by
2010 to permit all world languages to be present and used on
the Internet.
• Building awareness of the use of ICTs to all segments of
society by 2020.

7. ICT in the Philippines:
The Information Technology and
Electronic Commerce Council
(ITECC)
 organized in 2000 pursuant to Executive
Order No. 264 chaired by Her
Excellency, the President of the
Philippines. (Public and Private)
 streamlines all ICT related government
agencies to provide effective and
focused leadership in the
implementation of the nation’s ICT
policy agenda.
 Vision - an ‘enabled society where
empowered citizens have access to
technologies that will provide quality
education, efficient government service,
greater source of livelihood, and a
better life.’

8. ICT in the Philippines:
 ‘Telecommunications is essential to the nation’s economic
development, integrity and security and shall be developed and
administered to safeguard, enrich and strengthen the economic,
cultural, social and political fabric of the country’. (RA 7925,
Philippine Public Telecom Policy Act)
 The Philippine shall use ICT to face the challenge of nation’s
emergent economy and establish our standing as a competitive
player in the world market. It is our vision that in the 21st Century,
the Philippines would have laid the infrastructure for every
business, every agency, every school, and every home in the
Philippines to have access to information society. (Medium term
plan)
Philippine Telecommunications Policy/Plan

9. ICT in the Philippines:
TELECOM SERVICE 1999 2000 2001 2002
LOCAL EXCHANGE CARRIER SERVICE 76 77 74 73
INTER EXCHANGE CARRIER SERVICE 12 12 14 14
INTERNATIONAL GATEWAY FACILITY 11 11 11 11
CELLULAR MOBILE PHONE SYSTEM 5 7 7 7
PUBLIC TRUNK REPEATER SYSTEM 10 10 11 11
RADIO PAGING SERVICE 15 15 11 11
COASTAL 12 12 12 13
BROADBAND 10 18 19 19
INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS 31 34 64 53
BROADCAST SERVICES 1032 1089 1143 1274
CATV SERVICES 1055 1162 1219 1373
Industry Structure ( As of December 31, 2002)

10. ICT in the Philippines:
Telephone density in the Philippine (2002)
MOBILE
19.36 PER 100
POPULATION
FIXED LINES
PER 100 POPULATION
NATIONWIDE 4.17
National Capital Region 15.79
Autonomous Region
for Muslim Mindanao .35

11. Strategic Roadmap for ICT: Source-ITECC
E- Government implementation
 Make it easier to do business in the country (investor-
friendly);
 Improve efficiency, accessibility, accountability and
transparency in delivering basic services;
 Spur the domestic ICT Market with the government as the
largest customer;
 Provide proper environment to enable and increase IT
usage.
Human Resource Development
 Increase the use of IT in delivering Basic Education;
 Improve the quality of IT knowledge/skills throughout the
supply chain;
 Accelerate the development of relevant IT
knowledge/skills;
 Leverage overseas Filipino ICT professionals.
ICT in the Philippines:

12. Business Development
 Build the RP brand and image;
 Focus on niches in the Foreign Market where the
country has a sustainable competitive advantage;
 Use a more targeted approach in selling and closing
outsourcing opportunities.
Legal and Regulatory Framework
 Rationalize the institutional framework by creating a
Department of ICT;
 Strengthen the legal and policy framework to address
critical issues arising from new technologies;
 Provide a support framework to ensure enforcement of
laws, promote e-commerce and ICT investments.
ICT in the Philippines:

13. Information Infrastructure
 Consolidate existing government ICT
resources to be shared by all
government offices;
 Undertake the development of a
Universal Service Program;
 Update network performance service
standards to conform with acceptable
Global standards;
 Develop a National IT Security
Program
ICT in the Philippines:

14. Empowerment of the Filipino Youth
Advocating ICT and an Empowered Youth
 An empowered youth is a nation’s best hope for the future. Given their
inspiring capacity for creativity, ingenuity and restless energy, it is vital to create an
environment that can harness these positive qualities and nurture them to be able to
forge towards the future with confidence and noble expectations.
 With ICTs vast powers and potentials as a major catalyst of economic growth,
it is being harnessed by the Philippine government to help narrow the income
disparities among Filipinos and bridge the existing digital divide among the different
regions and communities in our country.

15. The 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
 Mankind owes to the child the best it has to give.” The Rights of the
Child demand that we must go beyond providing for the basics like
food, clothing, and shelter and should strive to succor to the child’s
emotional, social and spiritual needs.
Empowerment of the Filipino Youth
RP Laws, ICT and the Filipino Youth

16. Empowerment of the Filipino Youth
The 1987 Philippine Constitution heralds the
nation’s commitment on the significant role of the
Filipino youth in nation building.
 Article 13 of the Constitution affirms that, “The state
recognizes the vital role of youth in Nation building and
shall protect and promote their physical, moral, spiritual,
intellectual and social well-being. It shall inculcate in youth
patriotism and nationalism and shall encourage their
involvement in the public and civic affairs.”

17. Empowerment of the Filipino Youth
The Child and Youth Welfare Code or Presidential
Decree 603 of December 10, 1974 declares:
 The child is one of the most important assets of the nation.
Every effort should be exerted to promote his survival and
development and enhance his opportunities for a useful and
happy life.
 The Child is not a mere creature of the State. Hence, his
individual traits and aptitudes should be cultivated to the
utmost insofar as they do not conflict with the general
welfare.”
 Other institutions, like the school, the church, the guild, and
the community in general should assist the home and state in
the endeavor to prepare the child for the responsibilities of
adulthood.”

18. Empowerment of the Filipino Youth
Republic Act 7610, Special Protection of Children
against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act
enacted on June 17, 1992. It is the State’s policy to:
 provide special protection to children from all firms of abuse, neglect,
cruelty exploitation and discrimination and other conditions, prejudicial to their
development, provide sanctions for their commission and carry out a program
for prevention and deterrence of and crisis intervention in situations of child
abuse, exploitation and discrimination.
 protect and rehabilitate children gravely threatened or endangered by
circumstances which affect or will affect their survival and normal
development and over which they have no control.

19. Empowerment of the Filipino Youth
Republic Act No. 9208, an Act to Institute
Policies to eliminate Trafficking in Persons
especially Women and Children, establishing the
necessary Institutional Mechanism for the
Protection and Support of Trafficking Persons
 A landmark legislation enacted last May 2003, it specifically
contemplates Internet content in defining “pornography” and the crime of
trafficking in persons. “Pornography” is defined as any representation, through
publication, exhibition, cinematography, indecent shows, information technology, or
by whatever means, of a person engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual
activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a person for primarily sexual
purposes.

20. Empowerment of the Filipino Youth
Monitoring of Youth Programs and Projects
implemented by Government Agencies
The DBM has issued a circular mandating all government agencies, GOCCs and
LGUs to institutionalize youth development programs, activities and projects, in
their annual planning, programming and budgeting process, implementation and
monitoring and evaluation.
The National Youth Commission is tasked to spearhead this monitoring scheme and
submit an annual Accomplishment Report with HR of Congress, the DBM and
NEDA. While this is not specifically aimed to cater to ICT by the Youth sector, it
provides a feasible window of opportunity to bring in ICT programs and projects
that benefit the youth.

21. Empowerment of the Filipino Youth
National conference of E-learning (Aug. 7-8, 2003)
Under its Strong Republic Program, President Arroyo pushed for the government’s
distance learning program to raise the literacy rate in some 400 remote and
impoverished barangay in the country. It aims to provide a communication
infrastructure for TV broadcasting and Internet access as a primary medium to deliver
the distance learning program and translate the standard education program, as well
as a pre-emptive way to stop the recruitment of terrorist and the spread of insurgency.
Critical to this program is the continuance of e-learning with the teaching of English
and the upgrade of math and science in schools. In re-iterating that technology is the
foundation of future economic development, the President emphasized that
technology must not only be a subject matter of our curriculum but as the medium of
the message in preserving our values. Knowledge without character is not
acceptable. She called for deeper inculcation of moral, social and cultural values
through our basic education system.

22. Empowerment of the Filipino Youth
MOBILE IT CLASSROOM (MITC)
In line with its outreach program, the DOST, under its Science Education Institute,
has a Mobile IT Classroom (MITC) which is a special bus with laptop computers,
audio visual equipment and learning software, that goes around designated areas
in the regions on schedule to make science learning through computers fun and
easy. This goes to the grassroots level, bringing ICT specially the internet, to the
remotest barrios and barangays.
While it may take time for the government to provide computers to all public
schools, it is good that MITC is already roaming around schools, inching its way
through rough roads and crossing wooden bridges, to give students in the barrio a
ride in cyberspace.

23. Empowerment of the Filipino Youth
BRIDGEIT OR TEXT2TEACH PROGRAM, etc.
A global program developed locally under the leadership of the Ayala Foundation
with the commitment and involvement of UNDP, the Pearson library, the
Department of Education, Seameo Innotech, Globe Telecom, Dream Broadcasting
and Chikka Asia. It aims to deliver digital education materials to schools using
mobile technology. Interactive, multi-media learning materials become accessible
to local classrooms around the world.
In a countrywide pilot beginning June 2003, fifth and sixth grade teachers and
pupils in 40 public and private schools from Manila and Mindanao use mobile
phones to access a library of more than 80 full length science videos. The
selected videos are downloaded via satellite to the digital video recorder connected
to a television in the classroom. The Philippines has been chosen as the pilot site,
primarily due to country’s comfort level for digital technology, particularly the cell
phone and its English proficiency.

24. Community e-Centers (CEC): Philippine Model
This project will augment
the existing government
efforts on solving the “last
mile problem” with private
sector and local
community participation
to improve bandwidth
affordability in remote
areas through several
deployment models. These
e-centers can establish a
new channel for delivery
of e-government services
at a lower cost.

25. Empowerment of the Filipino Youth
THE FUTURE AND ICT
NO DOUBT THE POWER OF ICT IS WORKING BEHIND THE SCENE IN
OUR SCHOOLS, GOVERNMENT AND BUSINESSES, SIGNIFICANTLY
CHANGING THE LANDSCAPE OF OUR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC
REALITIES.
INFORMATION IS ACCESSIBLE AT WARP SPEED, ENABLING PEOPLE TO
MAKE INFORMATIVE DECISIONS IN ALMOST ALL ASPECTS OF THEIR
LIVES AND THEIR LIVELIHOOD. OUR CHILDREN- THE YOUTH OF OUR
LAND ARE ONE OF THE BIGGEST WINNERS AND RECIPIENTS OF ICT
AND THEIR BENEFITS. THEIR FUTURES FIND ASSURANCE IN ICT.
IT IS UP TO US TO ENSURE THEIR FUTURE AND THOSE WHO WILL
COME AFTER THEM AND THROUGH THE PARTNERSHIPS WE HAVE
FORGED OUT OF MUTUAL CONFIDENCE AND PURPOSE.

26. THANK YOU!
MABUHAY!