Tech forum pushes incentives to draw ICT experts to gov’t
BORACAY—Information and communication technology (ICT) professionals in the public sector are not spared by labor issues hounding most government workers: huge salary gaps, lack of investments in skills training and other resources, and the exodus to the private sector.
The lack of priority in enhancing ICT talent in government is a major factor pulling down the country’s efforts in digitalization.
These efforts would have helped streamline essential services and plug loopholes leading to corruption in the bureaucracy, as industry experts and government officials pointed out during the annual CXO Tech Summit, held in this world-famous resort island on Oct. 14 to 16.
Information and Technology Secretary Henry Aguda cited his own experience losing staff in the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to private companies that offer better pay and promising career opportunities.
New technologies
“The problem also is the salary standardization [law] (Republic Act No. 11466). We want to provide cover and protection to our IT professionals because they are being poached. In my case, some worked for me for just six months and they left and went [to] private,” Aguda told participants in the summit organized by VST ECS Philippines, a local distributor of ICT products and services.
The summit highlighted the need for both public and private enterprises to adopt new technologies in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and other key areas in digital transformation.
Aguda said understaffing among ICT professionals remains a problem as long as there is no law or policy ensuring job security and career growth in government.
“I know it’s very tempting for them… and we [in government] can’t even counter [the job offers],” he said.
Social Welfare Assistant Secretary JP Acuña expressed concern over the high turnover of ICT workers even at the Department of Social Welfare and Development, another agency shifting toward digitalization in its services. He also noted that most ICT staff are hired as contract of service workers—a circumstance that remains a challenge for us,” he said.
“There are no safeguards for us to retain talent,” Acuña said.
‘Upskilling’
Teresa Manabat, vice president for computer operations and support group of the Home Development Mutual Fund, or the Pag-Ibig Fund, also noted the high cost of technical training of ICT workers. To remedy this, her department sometimes includes upskilling of IT staff in the proposed contracts during project procurement, she said.
“What we do is we bundle technical training when we bid [projects], otherwise, there’s none. It’s really important to continue upskilling IT,” she said.
Aguda said the department has supporters in Congress who see the need for a Magna Carta for IT workers.
There are three versions of the bill pending at the committee level in the House of Representatives. He hopes the lawmakers would make it a priority measure when Congress resumes session in November.
“The IT sector should be recognized as a sector that is strategic in government. We have Magna Carta for teachers, for doctors, so we should also have [one] for ICT professionals,” he said.
‘Industry benchmarks’
All three House bills seek the exemption of ICT workers from the salary standardization law (SSL), as their salaries must be based instead on “industry benchmarks, specialized skill requirements and market conditions.”
The hike in the monthly pay of government workers, except for some institutions, is limited to computations mandated under SSL, which range from P13,000 in Salary Grade 1 to almost half a million pesos in Salary Grade 33.
In his explanatory note, Negros Occidental Rep. Javier Miguel Benitez said the proposed measure he had authored seeks to ensure the government can “attract and empower the very professionals who secure our digital sovereignty and advance the public interest in the information age.”
President Marcos signed on Sept. 5 RA 12254 or the E-Governance Act, which requires all agencies, including local government units (LGUs) and government-owned and -controlled corporations, to enhance their respective digitalization efforts in the provision of government services.
The DICT is preparing the law’s implementing rules and regulations, and Aguda said he hopes to “do a better job” in the ongoing public consultations in order to entice ICT workers to government.
This includes creating ICT departments and positions for chief information officers in every LGU—a position still lacking in the local governments.
Jobs, foreign investments
Executives from tech companies expressed willingness to work with the government in its shift toward digitalization.
Jimmy Go, president and CEO of VST ECS Philippines, said one measure he has been pushing is the passage of a data sovereignty law, which will help establish more data centers and thus open up more jobs and draw in foreign investments.
“So the overall change is going to be very positive for the country… More investment, more purchases of computer equipment and faster latency [in internet speed],” he told reporters.
“We need to improve the country’s digital infrastructure, but the government has to be ready also to act on it,” Go said.
