Good news for Philippines-India relations

During my brief visit to New Delhi in late March, I was delighted to learn of two significant events which augur well for the strengthening of bilateral relations. Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, despite his hectic schedule, travelled to India for an inaugural Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation (JBIC). His 24-hour visit was a clear manifestation of his strong desire to enhance relations.

One week after the del Rosario visit, Philippine Airlines (PAL) inaugurated flights to Delhi on a regular basis. Judging from the number of Indians applying for Philippine visas (as much as 200 per day) as well as India’s visa-on-arrival facility for Filipinos, the number of passengers is expected to increase considerably by next year. At the moment, there are less than 40,000 visitors. I understand they can easily double that next year. PAL management should be commended for their business foresight. Perhaps another airline should also look at Mumbai, India’s business capital as another destination because the bulk of visitors come from that region. Philippine embassy staff in Delhi led by Ambassador Ronald Allarey was able to secure landing authorization despite the last minute request of PAL. I hope that PAL management and staff appreciate the efforts of the Delhi DFA personnel.

As the readership knows, I have been a strong proponent of Philippines-India relations. Now, I look forward to India reciprocating by demonstrating similar sentiments in Manila.

Deranged move in sports

You would think that given our dismal record in sports, our government officials would strive to help those sports in which we have excelled and have found success.But horror of horrors, there are actually some government agencies that spend their time to thwart and bleed dry our more successful sports programs.

A case in point is what the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) is doing to billiards in the country.

Yesterday, on the eve of the opening of the Philippine Open Pool Championships at the SM Megamall, GAB tried to stop the competition from taking place. With over 200 players from 31 countries already set to go, GAB issued a cease-and-desist order to everyone involved in the event – from the organizer, to the venue management, to the TV broadcast network, even to the referees and utility people in the tournament.

In support of its action, GAB invokes presidential decree PD871, issued in 1974 during martial law. Not content to just police the PBA, horseracing and bingo games, GAB wants to expand its turf to include sports – all for the sake of lining its pockets.

Remarkably, according to the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines, the Marcos decree does not even contain the word “sport” throughout its text. Marcos had no intent to make the decree cover sports. But GAB under the new chairman wants to go farther than FM. He wants to include every sport that can remotely be described as a game or amusement.

Yesterday, the designs of GAB on billiards became even more alarming. Word went out that GAB plans to send its agents to the tournament to demand from all the competing players – foreign and Filipino – to secure a GAB license as a condition for playing in the tournament. They will also require all the referees, scorers, timekeepers, gofers, and assemblers of the billiard tables to get a GAB license. This is as counterproductive as jailing the GSIS board members.          

Disoriented on information technology

Technological convergence or “the tendency for different technological systems to evolve towards performing similar tasks” is a condition that our country must aspire to and prepare for in our information and communications technology industry. It represents change that has significant effect on business and governance.

Convergence is most apparent in the merging of computer, television and telecommunications industries. Not too long ago, voice telephony, data and productivity applications, and video required separate networks to be accessed. Today, they are increasingly shared and used over a single network. For consumers, convergence means Internet TV where you can watch favourite TV programs and web sites on the same screen. Among communication companies, convergence meant the ability to deliver “triple play services”- voice, video and data (internet access) on the same link (copper wire, cable TV or fixed wireless) to homes and businesses.

In the Philippine private sector, Manny Pangilinan seems to most appreciate the implications of technological convergence for business. With his recent purchase of Digitel, he is consolidating his strong position in infrastructure (PLDT/Smart/CURE, and Meralco). He is also making a play to become a content provider (Channel 5, cygnal – digital TV and reportedly investments also in the Inquirer and Star).

Clearly, he is a businessman who possesses a strategic vision for the 21st century. However, if Pangilinan is focused, our government in contrast is disoriented. 

In 2004, the cause of convergence was promoted with the creation of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT). The Telecommunications Office (or TELOF, the former Bureau of Telecommunications) and the National Computer Center (NCC) were placed under one umbrella. The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) was attached to the CICT for policy coordination purposes. Having established an institutional mechanism to guide technological convergence, the Arroyo Administration quickly back tracked by transferring NTC to DOTC in 2005 and returning TELOF to DOTC in 2007. But for reasons that still perplex analysts, NTC was transferred back to CICT in 2008, and TELOF following suit in 2010. 

This early, the fate of convergence under the Aquino Administration seems equally dim. While President Aquino appointed a CICT Chairman within 100 days of his term, he has yet to appoint the four commissioners who will complete the leadership of the CICT. Worse, the president reportedly announced during the call of the US- ASEAN Business Council that CICT was going to be ‘reorganized’. NCC is reportedly going back to DOST and the focus of CICT is going to be ‘computer education’! If this is true, what happens to the “Philippine Digital Strategy” plan that CICT is formulating with funding from Canada? Money and effort down the drain?

This onward march of technological convergence puts pressure on governments. The combination of services over the same platform is exposing the limitations of the traditional modes of regulation. A national broadband policy, including universal access to broadband, comes to the fore as convergence creates bandwidth hungry services and applications.

Without a proper convergence policy and strategy in place, there is real danger that the Philippines will not be able to exploit new growth avenues. But how can we have a convergence policy, let alone a proper one, when the institution that could make it happen is being dismembered or made to languish? 

Irresponsible reporting

I was appalled to learn that our new ambassador to Japan, Manuel Lopez was reported to have asked DFA authorization to return embassy staff to Manila in the midst of the earthquake and tsunami crisis. It was not true and yet it was a front page item in one paper and also in a well-read column. In truth, he was in Tokyo and Sendai performing his duties and attending to the needs of Filipinos. When will the press learn to check their facts?