Honasan sworn in as DICT secretary

MANILA, Philippines — Former senator Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan yesterday assumed the post of information and communications technology secretary.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said Honasan took his oath of office before President Duterte just before a Cabinet meeting at Malacañang.

Duterte introduced Honasan to the Cabinet before presiding over the meeting of the official family.

Honasan assumed office more than a year after Duterte signed his appointment papers on May 20, 2018. He replaces Eliseo Rio, who had held the post in an acting capacity.

Opponents of the appointment have stressed that a person is barred by the Constitution from benefiting directly from an office created while he was a member of Congress. The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) was carved out of the Department of Transportation and Communications in 2015 when Honasan was a senator.

Critics have also noted that Section 11 of the DICT Act states that no person shall be appointed secretary, undersecretary or assistant secretary of the agency unless he or she has at least seven years of competence and expertise in any of the following: information and communications technology, information technology service management, information security management, cybersecurity, data privacy, e-commerce or human development in the information communication technology sector.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III has insisted that Honasan is qualified for the post because he has background in intelligence communication.

A member of the Philippine Military Academy class of 1981, Honasan joined a series of uprisings against the late president Corazon Aquino, whom he helped install during the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution. He was granted amnesty in 1992 by then president Fidel Ramos.

Honasan was elected senator in 1995 and was re-elected in 2001, 2007 and in 2013. He ran for vice president in 2016 but lost.