DICT urged to collect P3.9 billion dues from telcos

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) needs to collect P3.9 billion in charges, dues and penalties from telcos to help support government programs.

In a briefer, the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department (CPBRD) said the DICT could raise as much as P3.9 billion if telco regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), recovers its collection backlog.

Citing an opinion from the Commission of Audit (COA), the CPBRD said the NTC must collect P3.9 billion from telcos with pending cases before the government.

Moreover, the NTC has yet to secure P21.8 million from providers with expired franchises. The CPBRD said these telcos have administrative charges filed against them, and it is the duty of the NTC to collect penalties imposed on them.

The CPBRD said the charges, once collected, could improve the DICT’s budget. They could help fund, for instance, the agency’s efforts to raise digital penetration in the countryside by installing free WiFi sites.

“The weak collection and follow-up mechanisms, disadvantage of issuing statement of accounts annually, gaps in monitoring and enforcement and delayed court rulings are reasons enumerated for the non-collection,” the CPBRD said.

“The COA highlighted that the inability to promptly collect the outstanding receivables deprive the government of much-needed revenue to finance public services,” it added.

Another DICT unit, the National Privacy Commission (NPC), was also flagged for failing to spend its P119-million budget efficiently to establish a Compliance and Security Monitoring Command Center.

The center was supposed to serve as a unified hub for security and compliance tasks. However, it faced several disruptions that the NPC failed to resolve immediately, including missed delivery timelines and premature hiring of service personnel.

The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center was also asked to revert P86.2 million to the Bureau of the Treasury in 2024, as reported by COA. The CPBRD said this could indicate its inability to address procurement and implementation bottlenecks.

For 2027, the DICT is seeking congressional approval for its proposed budget of P12.53 billion, of which the lion’s share of P8.47 billion would fund infrastructure projects.

The CPBRD serves as the think tank of the House of Representatives, providing legislators with data and analysis on specific policy discussions.