Incoming DICT Chief Wants Digital Literacy In Elementary Curriculum

President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s choice of Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) secretary, Ivan John Uy, will be battling cybercrime by including digital literacy in the elementary curriculum.

“The most important now is digital literacy, especially what we call cyber hygiene. I think this has to be taught even in grade school,” Uy said in a virtual interview with “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News on Tuesday night, May 31.

The incoming DICT chief said tackling the problem of digital literacy, or the lack of it in this digital age, would be the first item on his agenda so that millions of Filipinos are protected from cybercriminals starting at a young age.?He intends to push this by working closely with the Department of Education (DepEd), which will be headed by vice president-elect Sara Duterte-Carpio.

“Especially now, because of the COVID situation, kids are suddenly thrown into a digital platform where they have to study online. However, they’re thrown into that platform in complete innocence and naiveté,” Uy pointed out.

“They are not warned that this platform opens them up to cyber criminals and cyber fraudsters. So it is imperative to include it (digital literacy) in the curriculum,” he added.

Uy said the DICT can help produce a module on digital literacy, particularly cyber hygiene. “DICT can help produce that module and then it can be disseminated through the platforms that the DepEd currently has,” he said.

Uy also said he welcomes his appointment by Marcos, who tapped him for the DICT despite being an executive in the administration of the late former president Benigno Aquino III.

“Well, as he (Marcos) said, his primary requirement now is competence. So, he doesn’t care whether you carry which color. He said that after May 9, he became color neutral,” Uy said.

DSWD positions

For the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), incoming secretary Erwin Tulfo said he will seek to fill the senior positions at the department with social workers and keep to a minimum bringing in his own associates and friends for official posts.

Tulfo, erstwhile broadcast journalist and executive of the ACT-CIS party-list, said that he has so far decided to bring in just two veteran media executives and fellow former journalists, professor Jerico Javier and Sally Navarro, as his undersecretary for operations and undersecretary for the Office of the Secretary, respectively.

Navarro and Javier, he said, are like him in their familiarity with the priority sector mandate of the DSWD, who are the marginalized poor families and those in distress due to calamities and crises.

“I don’t have a degree in social welfare or social work. But I have vast experience in helping out people,” Tulfo said. “I’ve been a journalist. I’ve been covering relief operations, search and rescue, etcetera – for the past 22 years.”

For other undersecretary and assistant secretary positions, Tulfo said he intends to hire from the DSWD ranks of professional social workers and give them the opportunity to serve in higher capacities with more responsibilities.?He said he expects all the political appointees brought in by his predecessor (outgoing Secretary Rolando Joselito Bautista) into the DSWD to tender their resignation by June 30.

Tourism perspective

Incoming tourism chief Christina Frasco underscored the importance of inclusivity and close coordination between local government units (LGUs) and the national government in uplifting the tourism industry. In a television interview aired over CNN Philippines, Frasco, the mayor of Liloan, Cebu, said she will be bringing her local government perspective to the Department of Tourism (DOT).

“In Cebu, what we had was the very close coordination between the provincial government and the LGUs, as well as setting the direction for tourism policies and programs. And this has allowed the expansion of opportunities, not only within already well-known tourist sites, but even and especially to lesser known tourist sites,” Frasco said.

She said her perspective will help the DOT recognize problems posed by the pandemic and calamities, address the needs in the grassroots levels and build social protection that could shield the industry from the economic impact of adverse events.

Frasco also emphasized the importance of shedding light on local products and talents. By expanding their reach, she said the economic opportunities of every LGU will be extended, and the economy “will be able to bounce back stronger.”

PCCI welcomes Marcos picks

On Wednesday, June 1, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) welcomed Marcos’ choice of Cabinet members, noting that new leaders provide confidence to the business sector.

“We congratulate the newly named Cabinet secretaries on their well-deserved appointments. It’s refreshing to see new names and faces,” PCCI president George Barcelon said. “We trust they would perform well in carrying out their functions to serve the people and the nation.”

In particular, Barcelon lauded the appointment of incoming secretaries Benhur Abalos for the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Bienvenido Laguesma for De-partment of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Uy for DICT, all of whom come with well-established credentials and experience.

“We are happy that one came from our rank, Mr. Ivan John Enrile Uy who is PCCI’s corporate secretary and chair of the Philippine Business Conference Resolutions Committee,” he said, adding that the PCCI is looking forward to much needed improvement in internet connectivity.

As for the other appointed secretaries – Tulfo in DSWD, Amenah Pangandaman in the Department of Budget and Management, Frasco in DOT and Zenaida Angping as chief of Presidential Management Staff – Barcelon said they are familiar names whose contribution to media, government finance and social welfare matters have captured the president-elect’s attention and trust.

No DA, DOH chiefs yet

Marcos, though, has yet to pick his secretary of agriculture as the selection process for one of the most important government posts is being done carefully, incoming press secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said on Wednesday.

“One of the most important on the agenda of the president-elect is agriculture, and therefore the selection has to be done carefully,” Cruz-Angeles said at the “Laging Handa” public briefing.

“Also, there are many applications under consideration. Since his victory was announced, many have been presenting and submitting their applications. So, to be fair, all applications must be reviewed thoroughly, and that’s making the selection long,” she said in a mix of Filipino and English.

Earlier, Agriculture Secretary William Dar – who said Marcos’ administration would inherit an agriculture sector that has been “underbudgeted, neglected all these 30 years” – said he is willing to serve under the incoming administration.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Medical Association (PMA) has endorsed Dr. Ted Herbosa, special adviser to the National Task Force (NTF) against COVID-19, as the country’s next health chief.

“Kindly allow him (Herbosa) to serve as secretary of health to fulfill the health goals of your administration,” PMA president Benito Atienza said in a letter sent to Marcos.

Presidential adviser on entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion had also recommended the appointment of either Herbosa or infectious disease expert Edsel Salvaña as the next secretary of the Department of Health (DOH).

For the PMA, Herbosa would be “an ideal leader” for the implementation of the health reforms under the Marcos administration, Atienza said.

He stressed that Herbosa has vast experience and extensive expertise in the health care system, public health administration as well as emergency and disaster medicine.

As NTF medical adviser and PhilHealth board member, Herbosa has closely worked with the PMA and the national government.

“It is through the suggestion of Dr. Herbosa that the proposal of PMA to hold National Vaccination Days was implemented, which contributed to the low incidence of COVID-19,” Atienza said.

He further noted that Herbosa had served as health undersecretary from 2010 to 2015 and assisted then DOH secretary Enrique Ona in implementing a modernization program for hospitals nationwide. – With Louella Desiderio, Helen Flores Ralph Edwin Villanueva, Mayen Jaymalin