House splits DoTC to create new ICT department

The Philippines’ lower chamber, the House of Representatives, has approved a bill which calls for the creation of a new department to look after the interests of the country’s information and communications technology (ICT) sector. The Inquirer newspaper reports that under the bill, the new Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) would be spun off from the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC). All existing DoTC offices with a communications function, including the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and the Philippine Postal Corp, along with the newly created National Computer Centre, would be assigned to the DICT.