IT Publications

Group wants more public participation in IT issues

Alexander Villafania
INQ7.net

CIVIL rights group Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA) is calling for government to open information technology-related discussions that focuses more on civil society's responsibility in the creation of IT policies in the Philippines.

In the recently held Philippine Summit on the Information Society, FMA executive director Alan Alegre urged government, particularly the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), the body that drafts IT policies, to create processes that would allow citizens to offer their thoughts on certain IT issues, such as voice-over-IP and the broadband wireless Internet initiative.

Alegre said public participation during public hearings has not been widespread, primarily due to the lack of information dissemination on these events.

He said many Filipinos are not aware of the IT issues being discussed nor are they aware of its implications to their lives.

"These are the kinds of topics citizens should have a say on. If the demand for IT services is really driven by market forces, then it is these forces that should help in creating local policies and they should be able to join," Alegre said.

In relation to the PSIS position paper the CICT drafted for the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Alegre said the CICT had failed to properly inform the public sector to join the public discussions where it could collect information for inclusion in the draft PSIS position paper.

Though he commends the inclusion of civil society concerns, such as youth and women's development, in the draft PSIS position paper, Alegre said there were still a few issues not fully addressed -- like the option to create intergovernmental IT policies on cybercrime, intellectual property, and content development.

According to Alegre, allowing only governments to create policies gives too much power to politicians, not to the end-users. "At least at the country level, the government should encourage more public sector participation," he said.

Foundation for Media Alternatives