By Rene Espina
AFTER the last three weeks of confrontation between the administration and the opposition politicians in the Senate, I am not at all surprised that things have somehow settled down. And why not, after the revelations made during the hearings by the star resource persons, what more can be revealed that the public does not already know, or think they know, that conclusions about certain facts have already been made. As I said before, regarding the National Telecommunications Plan, it is important to determine what we need, when, where, and how to acquire and implement it, etc., at the cheapest cost with the maximum benefit. What are the proposed projects that are pending implementation? And which of them gets the priority? First, education through cyber technology? Can it not be attained instead by videodiscs? After all, a disc costs only about five pesos. And classrooms can be provided with TV sets and video players. The disc program has an advantage because each teacher can manage the speed of the program to match the learning abilities of the pupils. In the cyber program, I assume that it will originate from a national, provincial, city or town source. The individual schools would have to keep pace with the rest in the same areas.
Second, the National Citizen’s ID program: The National ID program should include biometric data for every individual ID. Aliens will also be included in the ID system. The Bureau of Immigration, National Census and Statistics Office must also participate in the said program. How about the data that is already in the new passports and driver’s licenses? How about the data in the SSS and the GSIS?
Third, the whole process of elections from registration, voting, counting, proclamation and so on should be part of the said ID program. The biometric data stated above shall be in the voter’s ID. Since I assume that every classroom will have computers connected to the National Grid, why not include it as part of the program? As I said before, so much data is available that the main problem is how to encode it and use software programs that will make the information available to all those who have legitimate uses for the data. I can imagine that residence certificates will become a thing of the past.
Fourth, law enforcement: The program should connect all local government units (LGUs), Philippine National Police (PNP), NBI, and Coast Guard. Since biometrics is used as part of the National ID system, can you imagine how much easier will it be for the law enforcement agencies to capture their quarry? At this point I must emphasize that the National ID should be "compulsory" in the sense that without it you cannot transact any business especially with the government.
Fifth, National Defense: With all the data that has been encoded and would be available, the task of providing for our National Defense would be much easier. For example, how many fuel depots do we have throughout the country, type of trucks and their distribution, ships, kumpits (boats), etc. Let us determine what current or future technology do we need. For example, Google has a civilian type arial map that is available through the Internet. There is also a current 24hour satellite surveillance of any area in the world that can be sourced through arrangements with our allies. Said technology even includes thermal imaging. Shall we not use the said technology to monitor our island territories including our seas? I leave the vast implication of the current technologies to the government bureaucrats, our academe, and scientific communities. I am sure that if given the freedom and the resources, the Filipino can...
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