Quezon City 1st District Rep. Juan Carlos ‘Arjo’ Atayde joins other lawmakers during the 31st Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum Roundtable of Young Parliamentarians held in Manila recently. The lawmaker said the House of Representatives aims to utilize digital technologies to promote interconnectivity.

QUEZON City 1st District Rep. Juan Carlos “Arjo” Atayde said the House of Representatives is taking the lead in passing measures that will ensure that the country adopts digital technologies in a responsive, inclusive and forward-thinking way.

At the 31st Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) Roundtable of Young Parliamentarians, Atayde said that the House hopes “to utilize digital technologies to promote interconnectivity, broaden our reach, and improve our responsiveness to our people’s needs.”

He said that aside from passing the measure that had created the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the House recently passed House Bill (HB) 7327, or the proposed “EGovernance Act,” “to harmonize and coordinate the digitization efforts of all government offices and agencies.”

Atayde, one of the principal authors of HB 7327, said that the House also passed HB 6, or the “Open Access in Data Transmission Act,” to address concerns that digitalization “risks widening educational, socioeconomic and urban-rural inequalities.”

“The proposed legislation lays the groundwork for a data transmission industry that is open, fair and interoperable. It is my belief that stimulating private sector involvement is key to ensuring our country’s digital transformation is as inclusive as possible,” he said.

The House, Atayde pointed out, acknowledges the need to balance digital innovation with security.

The country has a Data Privacy Act, Cybercrime Prevention Act and Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration Act.

Established in 1993, the APPF held its 31st annual meeting in the Philippines from Nov. 23-26, 2023 with the theme “Resilient Partnerships for Peace, Prosperity and Sustainability.”

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in a speech delivered by House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez on his behalf, expressed hope that forum participants would utilize the platform to discuss issues on digital innovation, regional security, transnational crime, free and fair trade, and sustainable and equal economic growth.