With the failure of the Senate to pass a bill creating a Department of ICT (DICT), the current agency in charge of the local technology sector is in danger of being abolished altogether as the Arroyo administration makes its exit.

The Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) is supposed to be a transitory body pending the formation of a DICT. The term of its officials, like most government executives, is also understood to be co-terminus with appointing power, which, in this case, is Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

But unlike a full-fledged department, the CICT, as a mere creation of an executive order issued by Arroyo in 2004, can be easily scrapped with another order that may be made by the incoming president come June 2010.

Dondi Mapa, a former commissioner during the term of former CICT chair Virgilio Pena, said in a Facebook status post that industry stakeholders can only “hope that whoever become president in June does not abolish the CICT.”

The DICT bill, along with the proposed law on cybercrime, was on the legislative agenda of the chamber last week before it adjourned its sessions to prepare for the elections. Despite the fact that both bills had been certified as urgent, the C-5 controversy took over the Senate floor and paved the way for its defeat.

CICT chair Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua, together with officials of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), trooped to the Senate hall and attended its session for one-and-half weeks to lobby for the bill. Roxas-Chua and BPAP director Martin Crisostomo were inside the chamber during the penultimate day of the sessions but were a picture of frustration as the chances of getting the bills tackled on the floor slowly faded away.

Roxas-Chua then threw in the towel, posting in his status message: “I was informed no more bills will be taken up on the last session day of the Senate. It appears our journey has come to an end. Thanks to all those who supported us along the way. I guess it’s up to the next administration to pass our ICT bills.”

Although the next president and Congress could still push for the passage of the bill, there’s slim chance of this happening, according to UP computer science professor Jimmy Caro.

“The next DICT bill would have a tougher chance if Mar becomes VP and a trusted adviser of the next president. Plus, Mar opposes the creation of CICT, so that could be its end,” Caro, a former PSITE (Philippine Society of IT Educators) president, also said in status post.