Driving Digital Inclusivity in the Philippines

We sat down with Attorney Jocelle Batapa-Sigue, Undersecretary for ICT Industry Development, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) of the Philippines to find out what the department is working towards in 2024 and beyond.

FERVANT: Can you tell us about your background in public service, and how that has shaped your outlook in your professional career?

Atty. Jocelle: Cities are living entities. When you give to your city, it will give back to you. I started out as a local policy maker in my city, a small city in the Philippines called Bacolod. Coming from the countryside, I have seen what it’s like there. I want to help small cities dream big because the truth is, it is very hard to become a digital city if your numbers are small. For me, it’s not about the numbers, or even how far the cities are from Metro Manila. It’s the heart to dream that matters. It’s the willingness to go the extra mile, and just put yourself out there, that matters.

My dream is thus for us to really use digital platforms to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to dream bigger than where they are today. My dream is for children in remote areas who possess the necessary skill sets to have the same job opportunities as those living in the cities.

When I started my work as a local policy maker helping communities to create jobs and inspiring different sectors, it helped me grow as a person. It pushed me to become a national government official, and to me, this is my reward for helping my city and other communities.

FERVANT: What drives you to do what you do, and keeps you passionate about your work?

Atty. Jocelle: I think what really motivates me is the awareness that my role is not something that I am entitled to, but what I earned from helping my city and other cities. When we only think of ourselves, nothing will change.

We should think beyond ourselves, and realize that when we help our city grow, we will also benefit. And the best thing is, we are even helping our children and future generations. On this notion, Gloria and I have a lot of ideas that align and I like the fact that she’s out there helping people as well. She believes that everything we do externally comes out from the internal motivation that we have. Similarly, I believe that everything we do, we should work for our family and our country, and whatever strong passion that we believe in. Without this inspiration or motivation inside of us, we will not live an exciting and fulfilling life.

FERVANT: The role of empowerment is quite prominent in your leadership, from what you have shared so far. Why is empowering communities so important for you?

Atty. Jocelle: Communities are very powerful when they work together, thus it is important that everyone has a sense of community. I always emphasize this wherever I go, and community has also become the foundation of every digital city we want to help grow in the coming years.

We need to understand that the implementation and success of our initiatives is due to the work of our local stakeholders, because at the end of the day, the government can only guide them. The real work needs to be done by the communities.

Other than intensifying technological connections, we also need to amplify human connections through empowering our communities. This way, they can gain a competitive edge in the global landscape and leverage on technology in their daily lives, allowing them to build a better future for themselves.

It is important that we do not lose sight of our identity as Filipinos. If we are able to give back to our community, we should. My personal sentiment is that I do not want to leave the Philippines to find greener pastures in other countries because I think that my country needs me, and I want to give back to the country that has made me who I am today.

It is thus one of my priorities next year to internally empower our regional offices. To do so, I hope to empower young DICT officials in every region to be able to competently promote their locations, because I cannot do it for the whole country.

FERVANT: You mentioned the importance of one’s national identity. Can you share what to you are some unique traits of the people of the Philippines?

Atty. Jocelle: Something unique to the Philippines is our mindset. We are generally happy people. We strive to maintain a positive outlook in life despite all the pain and struggles we face, as we do not wish to dwell on our sadness and problems.

Our desire to keep life as easy and positive as possible helps us cope with challenges. When faced with the fast-paced and constantly evolving nature of the digital landscape, we need this mindset, and enough grit, to be able to achieve our ambitions. We need to rely on improving ourselves.

FERVANT: How do you hope to empower Filipinos to possess enough grit to achieve their dreams?

Atty. Jocelle: It all boils down to the desire to improve yourself. And most of the time, if you’re not up against anyone, even yourself, you would not have the motivation to improve. As such, our strategy to empower the community to achieve their goals is to make the environment more competitive. We do not intend for this to be stressful. Rather, our goal is to use the ‘carrot’ to incentivize communities to cultivate good practices, instead of using the ‘stick’. This way, other communities will follow suit as they will be challenged to improve themselves.

Nonetheless, with competition, it is important to do it in a way that when we do not achieve what we aspire as a city or as an individual, we are able to understand what we did wrong and improve, or when we win, we are able to know what made us successful and determine the strategies and skillsets in winning.

FERVANT: Can you elaborate key areas in your work that you are passionate about?

Atty. Jocelle: We are a big country with more than 7000 islands and 110 million people, hence it is important they we are able to implement digital inclusion strategies across all these islands.

Digital inclusion is something very close to my heart as a “probinsya” (woman from the countryside). For communities, my vision is to expand the Digital Cities Program to what I call Digital Communities Plus, in an effort to really push for digital inclusion.

Digital inclusion for me, is particularly about increasing the number of women that can leverage information technology in not only the Philippines, but across the whole of ASEAN. I have thus developed the program called DIWA (Digital Innovation for Women Advancement), which is also the Tagalog word for ‘spirit’. Through DIWA, women will learn how to leverage ICT, to take advantage of the many opportunities brought about by digitalization.

Digital inclusion is also about having a space to share your voice with policymakers. It can be a platform for the community to have a say in their future. Hence, another program I developed is Generation Connect Philippines, to engage young people in terms of building the future they want for themselves. We are creating avenues for them to share their ideas regarding policy as they would not usually get a chance to speak up, unless they become government officials themselves.

Similarly, I am passionate about innovation in our traditional education system. I am hoping that we can develop an environment where critical thinking can thrive alongside digital competence and communications skills, since these are critical for the 21st century working environment. We should move away from the glamour of just having a diploma, and move towards honing the core skills that are not only functional, but will also help us work as a team, which is a necessity in today’s world. Today, you need to be able to work with everyone because we are now talking about a global value chain. To be successful, everyone needs to put their skills and strengths on the table.

FERVANT: What are some key advancements in terms of DICT’s vision in 2023?

Atty. Jocelle: This year, we were able to really push for the importance of innovation and digitalization as a tool for the country to progress. The goal is to cover as much area as we can, and we are going to move even faster next year to advance our vision.

We furthered our goal in creating a citizen-centric government by intensifying our digital platforms and solutions. To ensure a safe cyberspace, we will soon be signing the national cybersecurity policy of the Philippines, which aims to facilitate collaboration between agencies where cybersecurity is concerned. And these are only some examples of what we have done this year.

FERVANT: What are some ways the DICT is seeing acceptance, adoption, and support from organizations that are ready to cooperate with the government?

Atty. Jocelle: We work with industry stakeholders in every step of the way, including the ideation and implementation stages. To become the go-to agency for other agencies in terms of digitalization, we also work closely with other agencies.

We are constantly reaching out to different sectors to be part of our initiatives, like those in the areas of digital scaling and connectivity. Moving forward, I would like to be able to do more. There is always a need for more resources, so I hope to partner with more private sector stakeholders in resource sharing.

FERVANT: At the 2023 National ICT Summit, you highlighted the need for mindset shifts to facilitate the DICT's roadmap. Can you elaborate more on these mindset shifts and who specifically needs to undergo them?

Atty. Jocelle: As a government, we need to acknowledge that our roles have evolved in this digital age. Our role is not to simply regulate and impose policies, but to also ensure that our policies are the right policies to benefit our people. It is important that we become enablers and catalysts for innovation and change.

I always believe that policies should not kill industries, or discourage innovation. Rather, it should accomplish the opposite. Hence, policymakers and government officials should possess an innovative mindset so we can see the big picture. From there, we can know where to place what strategies to ensure the future is what we hope for it to be for Filipinos.

The education sector also needs to undergo a mindset shift, as it is where the country’s talent development takes place. We need to integrate our education sector with the country’s vision, so we can develop a future-proof country. We also need to have people in academia that are trail blazers, and they need to have a space to voice out their ideas.

If our education system adopts an innovative mindset, our youths will be empowered to develop innovative programs and projects. While we cannot tell them what to do, we can inspire and guide them. I think that is the goal of leaders: to inspire our young people to do more, and to do well.

FERVANT: What are some common pain points faced by Filipinos in this digital landscape?

Atty. Jocelle: Many of our traditional platforms do not work anymore. One of which is our education system. If you have 50 students in a classroom, and give them identical tests to assess their abilities, you'd find these students are all unique in terms of what they can potentially achieve. Moving ahead, we cannot simply understand their true potential through traditional methods.

Hence, the challenge is: how do we innovate our traditional education system to allow for an environment where critical thinking can really thrive?

To me, the solution is to create and implement more innovative policies. These policies should happen as fast as we can, for the benefits to reach and impact the communities. Otherwise, the policy sector will always be chasing after the high-speed digital sector.

FERVANT: What role does the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) play in ensuring that Filipinos can thrive in the digital age?

Atty. Jocelle: First and foremost, DICT ensures that job opportunities and investments brought about by the digital age trickle down to every region, every city, every province of the Philippines. We recognize the importance of everyone having access to strong and stable digital infrastructure, hence our second most important mandate is connectivity.

Transitioning to a digital age comes with its own set of challenges, making it crucial for us to develop citizen-friendly digital governance solutions. In this vein, one of our key mandates is to promote citizen-centricity in our government processes. Along with this is our emphasis on cybersecurity, as we hope to safeguard the wellbeing of our communities in cyberspace.

Serving as the Undersecretary for ICT Industry Development, I am responsible for developing jobs in the ICT industry, especially in areas outside of the metropolis. To increase the number of ICT jobs in the Philippines, we leverage on digitalization to develop strategies.

Any Filipino can leverage on digitalization to build a brighter future for themselves, regardless of their economic status. DICT thus acts as a form of support for anyone who wishes to achieve their dreams in this digital age.

FERVANT: Can you share more about the department’s strategy for ensuring the people of the Philippines are ready to take up jobs in the digital age?

Atty. Jocelle: Job generation in the digital age is quite challenging because the skills of our workforce need to match the requirements of these jobs. As the requirements are constantly evolving, we have developed and implemented four important metrics to ensure that our workforce is ready for jobs in the digital sector and future-proof.

The first metric — and the most important — is talent, specifically the need for talent development. I prefer to use the term ‘talent’ over ‘education’, because it encompasses not only formal education, but also skills, trainings, and a peer learning methodology.

We are currently implementing various kinds of intervention, as there is no one-size-fits-all solution. These interventions highlight the importance of skilling, upskilling, and reskilling. They are also meant to bring everyone up to speed, whether they are a high school graduate, a college graduate or a professional.

Many of these requirements are a cross between basic competencies such as critical thinking and English communication, and the complex requirements of AI and data analytics skills. To ensure that everyone understands the requirements needed for jobs in the digital age, and are able to take up such jobs, we work closely with industry stakeholders to bridge the gap between these requirements and the communities.

While the importance of talent development cannot be understated, that is not to say that other metrics are less important. Another metric is the business environment, such that the right components for an attractive business location are in place for us to generate jobs. The third metric concerns digital and other forms of infrastructure. Finally, the last metric is the cost of doing business, where investors can enjoy savings and enjoy services at a quality level at the same time.

FERVANT: Moving forward, how does the Digital Cities Program, specifically its vision for the digital ecosystem address the nation's challenges in a digital landscape?

Atty. Jocelle: At its core, it is a support and intervention program, where cities outside of Metro Manila are empowered to step up in making sure that they are ready for the digital age. The cities are categorized into three tiers: centers of excellence, next wave cities, and digital cities. These digital cities are identified based on the four metrics I shared earlier.

The first form of intervention involves institutional development, where stakeholders in every city can create their own ICT council through collaboration. Collaboration is actualized using the MAGIC model, which stands for Making Academe, Government, and Industry Collaboration. MAGIC ensures that everyone has a stake in lifting up their community, motivating everyone to work hard to contribute to this mission.

Next, cities will undertake a comprehensive strategic planning exercise, to understand their strengths and weaknesses, and also the opportunities and threats they are dealing with. Thereafter, the cities will develop a digital city roadmap, which takes into consideration strategies needed for the short and long term. The cities will then identify their niche so they know what they can contribute to the country’s digital transformation journey.

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Business coach, entrepreneur and author - Gloria has helped over 3,000 entrepreneurs build their businesses from the ground up. Gloria believes that sales is all about establishing rapport and nurturing valuable business relationships towards win-win outcomes.

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About today's guests on The Success Catalyst:

Find out more about the Republic of The Philippines' Department of Information and Communications Technology here.

Or connect with today's guest: Jocelle Batapa-Sigue on LinkedIn.