The Philippines performed well in a recently released digital readiness report, achieving a high score of 78%, which places it among the top performers in the ASEAN region alongside Singapore (89%), Malaysia (84%), and Thailand (75%). This indicates that the Philippines has made significant progress in digital readiness, achieving either transitioning or advanced status according to the ITU unified framework. However, the region as a whole falls below the World and South and East Asia regional averages, highlighting the need for more comprehensive efforts towards digital transformation.

A groundbreaking report titled “Digital Policy Action Areas for a Connected ASEAN” has been released this February, aiming to enhance digital transformation readiness within the ASEAN member states. This collaborative effort seeks to streamline digital policy, legal, and governance frameworks, setting the stage for a harmonized regulatory environment that aligns with the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025. The report’s goals include benchmarking best practices and crafting an action plan for regional harmonization to foster a digitally connected ASEAN community.

The assessment report and regional harmonization action plan were prepared in the framework of a collaboration between ITU and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to support the work of the ASEAN Secretariat in accelerating the implementation of the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025. The report and the various related activities (research and analysis, benchmarking and country interviews) build on the core work of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) in the area of collaborative digital regulation.

The objective is to assess the readiness of ASEAN member states for digital transformation and to propose areas for action to enhance preparedness through a harmonized, best-practice-oriented, and locally grounded regulatory environment and identifying opportunities for regulatory harmonization and providing an action plan for regional digital policy and governance frameworks.

According to the ITU unified framework, the Philippines demonstrated strong performance in several key areas, showcasing its advanced readiness for digital transformation. The country achieved a perfect score of 100% in Regional and International Cooperation, underlining its excellence in global collaboration. Stakeholder Engagement followed closely with a commendable 90%, highlighting the inclusive approach in policy-making.

The National Digital Policy Agenda also stood out with an impressive 85%, reflecting a well-structured digital strategy. As of this writing, the DICT is set to present the NICTDA to the President for approval. Other notable scores include Collaborative Governance at 84%, showcasing effective inter-agency cooperation, and Regulatory Capacity at 81%, indicating robust regulatory mechanisms.

The Legal Instruments for Digital Markets and Good Governance areas received scores of 75% and 73% respectively, further emphasizing the country’s solid legal frameworks for digital markets and governance principles. Market Rules also fared well with a score of 70%, while Legal Instruments for ICT/Telecom Markets made it to the advanced category with a 68% score. These achievements collectively highlight the Philippines’ strong foundation in digital policy, legal frameworks, and governance, positioning it well for future digital advancements.

The report highlights key areas for improvement in the Philippines, particularly in digital policy and regulation, as it aligns with the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025. It stresses the importance of refining the National Digital Policy Agenda to bridge existing gaps and establish clear priorities, ensuring a cohesive and comprehensive development across different sectors. The enhancement of Regulatory Capacity is crucial, with a focus on enabling regulatory bodies to keep pace with rapid changes in digital technologies and markets.

Good Governance is another critical area, where the emphasis is on implementing initiatives to address governance gaps, thereby ensuring transparency, accountability, and efficiency in digital projects. The report also points out the need for overcoming challenges in Collaborative Governance to guarantee effective engagement of all stakeholders in the digital transformation journey.

Improving Stakeholder Engagement mechanisms is essential to ensure that the digital policy formulation and implementation process considers the perspectives and requirements of all concerned parties. The update of Legal Instruments for ICT/Telecom Markets is highlighted to reflect the evolving needs of these sectors. Similarly, addressing the challenges in legal frameworks for Digital Markets is crucial to support their growth and ensure fair regulation.

The report identifies the need to pinpoint and rectify gaps in Market Rules to foster fair competition and innovation. Enhancing Regional and International Cooperation is seen as vital to tackle challenges and capitalize on opportunities presented by the digital age. It also suggests focusing on specific target areas to address the existing regulatory and policy gaps and outlines Key Priorities for achieving the goals set forth in the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025, aiming at a successful realization of these objectives.

ROLE OF THE DICT

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) in the Philippines led by Secretary Ivan John Uy plays a pivotal role in advancing the country’s digital policy and regulatory landscape. Their efforts are focused on enhancing digital infrastructure, promoting digital literacy, supporting the growth of the local ICT industry, and facilitating the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure. These initiatives aim to foster a robust digital economy and improve access to digital services across all societal segments.

Furthermore, the DICT collaborates on development programs to address emerging challenges and harness ICT’s potential. This includes formulating policies in critical areas such as cybersecurity, data privacy, e-commerce, digital government services, and ICT industry regulation. Through these actions, the DICT seeks to create a policy and regulatory framework that encourages innovation, protects consumer rights, and promotes fair competition within the ICT sector.

In addition, the Philippine government, with the DICT’s leadership, has established guiding principles for its digital transformation agendas, including short, medium, and long-term plans. These plans aim to utilize digital technologies to accelerate the country’s social and economic development, ensuring inclusivity and bridging the digital divide.

The DICT is also involved in developing significant initiatives such as the National Cybersecurity Plan, National ICT Development Agenda, Digital Government Master Plan, and National Broadband Plan. These plans are part of the broader strategy to transform the Philippines into a digitally empowered nation, with a focus on creating a vibrant ICT ecosystem and ensuring secure, efficient, and transparent government services through digitalization.

The report also highlights DICT’s collaboration with other National Government Agencies (NGAs) in launching the eGov PH application under the “Single Operating System” concept on June 2, 2023. The application aims to unify multi-sectoral government transactions and services, providing a secure online platform for various public services.

Additionally, the report discusses DICT’s current priorities regarding “Stakeholder Engagement,” which includes conducting regional and national multi-stakeholder consultations for the development of plans and policies. It also addresses the challenges DICT faces in engaging stakeholders, such as the frequent change of focal points per agency or organization and limited fiscal resources. To overcome these challenges, DICT aims to establish a database containing updated information about relevant stakeholders.

Currently, the DICT represents the Philippines in the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Council composed of 48 member states with Jocelle Batapa-Sigue as Councilor for the Philippines. She also sits as vice chair of the ITU Council Working Group for Child Online Protection (COP)

The report also discussed the Philippines’ engagements with ASEAN, specifically in the context of digital policy, regulatory landscape, and challenges. It includes detailed benchmarks on various aspects like the national digital policy agenda, regulatory capacity, good governance, collaborative governance, stakeholder engagement, legal instruments for ICT/telecom markets, digital markets, market rules, and regional and international cooperation. Each area is analyzed in terms of the state of play, challenges, and ongoing initiatives to address gaps, highlighting key priorities for aligning with the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025.

The ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025 is designed to transform the region into a leading digital community and economic bloc. It aims to expedite ASEAN’s COVID-19 recovery through digital initiatives, enhance broadband quality and accessibility, and ensure the delivery of trusted digital services, underpinning cybersecurity and governance. The plan seeks to create a competitive digital market, improve e-government services, and facilitate cross-border trade with digital tools. It emphasizes increasing digital skills and entrepreneurship to boost economic participation and advocates for digital inclusivity, making sure digital benefits reach all societal segments. Implementation of these outcomes is strategically organized by priority to guide member states effectively.

The report outlines a comprehensive strategy for enhancing digital policy, legal frameworks, and governance in the ASEAN region, aimed at fostering digital transformation. For the Philippines, this could mean improvements in digital infrastructure, increased access to digital services, enhanced cybersecurity, and stronger regional collaboration. Implementing the recommended actions could lead to a more inclusive digital economy, boost economic growth, and enhance the country’s competitiveness on a global scale.

The report highlights multiple areas for enhancement in the digital transformation of the ASEAN region, which also hold significance for the Philippines. It suggests the development of tailored broadband strategies that prioritize marginalized groups such as women, girls, youth, and persons with disabilities to promote inclusive digital access. A comprehensive strategy for youth employment is recommended, advocating for the adoption and effective execution of the International Labour Organization’s Global Jobs Pact to mitigate youth unemployment.

Aligning digital strategies with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is emphasized to ensure that digital advancements contribute to addressing global challenges, including climate change. The report calls for the adoption of a holistic innovation strategy to spur innovation across all sectors and demographic groups, thereby fostering a dynamic digital economy.

Improving the governance of autonomous regulatory agencies by enhancing accountability and decision-making autonomy is another key recommendation. This is coupled with the suggestion to create new mandates for IT and Internet content to address the evolving needs and challenges of the digital market. The report underscores the importance of governance practices that focus on monitoring, evaluation, and the provision of mechanisms for reconsideration or appeal of regulations to ensure transparency and effectiveness.

Collaboration is highlighted as a crucial element, with the report encouraging partnerships between ICT ministries, regulators, and essential sectors such as energy and transport to achieve a cohesive approach to digital transformation. Engaging stakeholders through mandated public consultations before regulatory decisions is advocated to include diverse perspectives, alongside the implementation of codes of conduct to guide digital market behaviors.

The report also suggests enhancing market flexibility and competition by introducing measures like number portability, secondary spectrum trading, and more flexible licensing regimes. It emphasizes the development of infrastructure and accessibility frameworks, focusing on infrastructure sharing and creating a regulatory framework for ICT accessibility, particularly for persons with disabilities.

Strengthening online protection and digital policies is recommended, with the implementation of policies and regulations for child online protection, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), smart cities, and digital services in sectors like agriculture, science, and financial services. The report also addresses the need to review ownership and foreign participation in digital and telecommunication services and advocates for the development of forward-looking competition policies and laws tailored to digital markets.

Enhancing cybersecurity and data privacy through the ratification of international conventions like the Budapest Convention on cybersecurity and establishing agreements to manage cross-border data flows and data privacy is deemed essential. These comprehensive recommendations aim to tackle various aspects of digital transformation, including infrastructure, regulation, governance, innovation, and cybersecurity, to foster a more inclusive, competitive, and secure digital environment in the ASEAN region, including the Philippines.

The overall outlook for the Philippines and ASEAN, as outlined in the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025 (ADM 2025), is focused on strengthening the use of digital technologies to drive economic and social development. The plan identifies three key conditions for ASEAN member states to become a leading digital community and economic bloc, namely, the availability of high-quality and ubiquitous connectivity, facilitated by robust telecommunication infrastructure; the provision of safe and relevant digital services to cater to the needs of the region’s diverse populations and the removal of barriers to digital service usage for both businesses and consumers, with an emphasis on enhancing productivity through digital skills for businesses and improving basic digital literacy and affordability for consumers, ensuring that digital services can be widely used across the region.

Related Story: The Singapore Declaration

The Fourth ASEAN Digital Ministers’ Meeting, known as ADGMIN, held on 1-2 February 2024, release “The Singapore Declaration”, which emphasized the importance of regional collaboration to foster economic growth, social progress, and cultural development, as outlined in the Bangkok Declaration and the ASEAN Charter. The meeting was guided by the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025, which aims to transform ASEAN into a digitally connected community and economic bloc, highlighting the significance of secure and transformative digital services, technologies, and ecosystems for the region’s future prosperity and peace.

The said forum also issued a Joint Media Statement which highlighted the agreements made during the 4th ADGMIN in Singapore.

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