FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC )
OF THE PHILIPPINES
1
First Regular Session
1
‘ 1
SENATE
%No. !go5
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago
EXPLANATORY NOTE
United Nations Development Program (UNDP) cites the importance of linking the
indigenous sector with the information highway. Further, UNDP Deputy Resident
Representative Ms. Ricarda Rieger states that “providing the indigenous sector with
access to information and communication technology will give them more chances to
empower themselves and will eventually strengthen indigenous people’s governance
initiatives.”
A report of the G-8’s Digital Opportunity Task Force concludes that infomiation
and communication technology or ICT, when wisely applied, offers enormous
opportunities to narrow social and economic inequalities and support sustainable local
wealth creation. The inequality in the access to ICT is referred to as the “digital divide”
defined by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development as the gap that
exists in the opportunities to access advanced information and communication
technologies between geographic areas or by individuals at different socio-economic
levels.
The bill seeks to provide Indigenous Cultural Communitieshdigenous Peoples
(ICC/IP) access to ICT. It also seeks to direct the National Commission on Indigenous
Peoples, in coordination with the National Telecommunications Commission and the
National Computer Center under the Department of Science and Technology, to
formulate plans and programs on ICT for ICC/IP.