ASPIRANT for Cagayan de Oro City’s 2nd District councilor Ronald Rufin on Saturday bared the poor performance of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the city government to implement the approved free internet access to the public.

“To be honest, the slowness of the implementation from the time the project was approved has been my concern,” said Rufin.

PROMDI candidate Rufin, earlier laid out one of his plans of a ‘free wifi’ in city’s 80 barangays through digital technologies being the main drivers of the economy in the “new normal.”

In 2017, Rufin said, President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed Republic Act No. 10929, which authorized the DICT to partner with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to provide free internet access to the public, nationwide.

He said the government promised free WiFi, which it was counting on by the time President Duterte’s term ends.

“This is already a “Republic Act” establishing the free internet access Program in public places in the country and already appropriated budgets,” said Rufin.

He said the DICT transferred $25,485,535.59 (P1,362,084,618.28) to UNDP Philippines for the project, through a Financing Agreement and a Project Initiation Plan signed in September 2018.

Rufin said the DICT on December 5, 2019 even rolled out free public WiFi in three areas inside government establishments in Cagayan de Oro City.

This free Wifi sites nationwide crafted and passed by the Congress and approved by the President, according to Rufin.

Led by Asst Secretary Felino Castro V, the WiFi hotspots were set up inside the JR Borja General Hospital, City Tourism Hall and the Heroes Ward Camp Evangelista Station Hospital in Barangay Patag.

Castro said Cagayan de Oro has 320 allocated WiFi hotspots to be completed in 2022.

“They had targeted to cover 320 sites by December 2022, but as of this date, Nov. 6, had only completed 3 Wifi hotspots?,” asked Rufin.

Rufin said the DICT-UNDP project aims to connect 320 free wifi sites in remote, vulnerable, and off-grid communities in Cagayan De Oro by the end of December 2022.

The wifi sites equipped with ICT gear under the UNDP K-12 Computerization Program.

“Specifically this free Wi-Fi service also aided teachers and students, providing access to teaching and learning materials, since 2020.

Also included according to Rufin are rural health units that are provided with free Wi-Fi services, allowing health care workers and residents to access and share critical health information related to the ongoing pandemic.

Rufin also explained that the 320 free wifi sites project in the city represents not even reached two percent of the DICT’s Free Wi-Fi for All National Program total target of 120,000 sites.

“This project reaches out to the most geographically challenging areas, communities and people, who live in tough to access even outside the city,” Rufin said.

Meanwhile, DICT said the delays in site activations have been due to pandemic restrictions, mobility limitations, and commercial challenges faced by the contractor and its sub-contractor.

“All these must have been shared and discussed with DICT to the city government, so the people may know for transparency in the government” said Rufin.

DICT said, as of April 30, 2021, 882 free Wi-Fi sites have been installed and activated in public areas, benefitting more than 350,000 users in remote places, with limited or no access to commercial internet.

Rufin reiterated that the free Wi-Fi service has been advantageous, especially during the pandemic, to low-income earners in the barangays of the city.

Policymakers’ attention must include how tech companies can support even small and medium business, especially as businesses will struggle to survive during pandemic, he said.

Rufin added that phase 2 of the project was supposed to have started in September 2020.

The government had targeted to cover 3,000 sites by December 2020 under Phase 2.

The DICT must direct the UNDP to take significant action against the delay which is found to have violated Philippine laws, Rufin said.

Earlier, even Malacanang, said that an investigation were already conducted by a House panel with the DICT.

Former DICT undersecretary Eliseo Rio said a House panel that the elephant in the room is that the work relationship of contractor and sub contractor, as the cause of the delay of the DICT-UNDP project.

DICT also said on May 25 to a House panel that the government has only installed 882 of the 6,000 public Wi-Fi connection points that it aims to set up by the end of 2022. (Ben Balce)