Gregorio Honasan II will continue to demand for a higher budget from Congress to fuel the DICT’s national broadband and free wifi access programs, among others. The House of Representatives has approved the DICT’s P5.15 billion budget for 2020, which is lower than its P7.1 billion budget in 2019. Out of the total available budget for 2020, P3.7 billion are considered new appropriations, while P1.5 billion are automatic appropriations. For the free WiFi program in public spaces and state universities and colleges, the DICT requested P6.3 billion but only P1.4 billion was approved. Their other projects are the national government portal (P381 million), national government data center (P295 million) and cybersecurity development and management program (P121 million).

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer September 27, 2019 07:18 UTC