Going techie: Digital technology roadmap to develop Filipinos’ ICT skills

The government will craft a digital technology roadmap that would allow Filipinos to improve their competencies in information and communication technology, according to Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte.

Villafuerte, who had been advocating for the digital switch, said this is part of the Philippine Digital Workforce Competitiveness Act (RA 11927), which was approved in the previous Congress lapsed into law last July.

“Recognizing the impact of FIRe (Fourth Industrial Revolution), on global employment, the government aims to gird up Filipinos, including the disadvantaged and underprivileged, for the digital technology wave and sharpen our workers’ skills in the fast-growing jobs available in the world’s ‘new normal,” he said.

Villafuerte, president of the National Unity Party—the second largest party in the 19th Congress, is a co-author of RA 11927.

The new law directs the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to work with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and local government units (LGUs) in conducting a digital technology and skills mapping nationwide to identify available competencies and gaps in ICT infrastructure, platforms, and skills.

The law also establishes the Inter-Agency Council for Development and Competitiveness of Philippine Digital Workforce to “ensure that all Filipino youth, students and workers have access to and are provided with skills and competencies in digital contents, platforms and technology that are at par with global standards, and shall encourage digital innovations and entrepreneurship.”

Villafuerte stressed that the new jobs that Filipino workers need to excel in to get ahead in the post-pandemic world are in FIRe fields such as engineering and cloud computing, data and artificial intelligence (AI), web development and management, e-commerce marketing, animation and content creation, online teaching and tutoring, 3D modeling and graphic designing, game and mobile application development, search engine optimization, animation and content creation, social media (socmed) branding and public relations, virtual assistance, transcription and data entry.