PRESIDENT-ELECT Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Rodolfo Salalima, formerly the chief legal counsel of Globe Telecom, to head the newly formed Department of Information and Communications Technology.
In a statement released Wednesday, Globe said Salalima will be the department’s first secretary under the incoming Duterte administration.
Salalima is a magna cum laude graduate of philosophy and a cum laude graduate of bachelor of laws from San Beda College.
In May, President Benigno Aquino III signed into law Republic Act 10844 creating the new department.
That law requires that the department heads have “at least seven years of competence and expertise in any of the following: information and communications technology, information technology service management, information security management; cyber security, data privacy, e-commerce, or human capital development in the ICT sector.”
Globe said Salalima has more than 40 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. It said he is a member of the executive committee of the National ICT Advisory Council, president of the Philippine Chamber of Telecommunications Operators Inc. and a director of the Telecoms Infrastructure Corporation of the Philippines.
Duterte earlier warned the telecommunications companies to improve their internet services or face competition from foreign players.
The Philippines’ internet speed is the second slowest in Asia after Afghanistan. The internet services in the Philippines are also among the most expensive.
A 2015 Ookla Speedtest showed that consumer download speeds in the Philippines ranked 176th out of 202 countries. The cost per megabit per second in the Philippines is also one of the most expensive, with an average value of $18.18 against the global average of $5.21. John Paolo Bencito
