Information Technology in The Philippines
Impacts of National Information Technology Environments on Business
Information Technology Usage
The worldwide IT and electronics industry is centered around computers, communications, software and related services. The IT and related electronics markets represent the fastest growing business in the world. Worldwide spending on IT products and services will rise 12 percent to reach US$683 billion in 1997. PC shipments in the US are expected to grow 15%, with annual growth rates over the next five years of 11%.1
The Internet explosion and the growing home market are boosting IT sales. More than 150 million users are expected to be connected to the Internet by the year 2000. The number of servers will grow to five million by the year 2000.2 The bulk of these users and networks will be in Asia.
The market for PCs in the Asia-Pacific region grew by 32% in 1996. The growth of the Asia-Pacific PC market is projected to continue over the next five years, with a combined annual growth rate of 20%.3 In almost all the Southeast Asian nations, IT and telecommunications are increasingly being used as critical instruments of national and regional development. IT-related plans and policies are being used as means for enhancing competitiveness and for realizing international cooperation and coherence within the region.
Asia-Pacific PC Shipments by country of origin4
|
Country
|
1996
|
1995
|
Growth
|
|
Japan
|
8,099,200
|
5,822,000
|
39.1
|
|
China
|
2,108,240
|
1,518,002
|
38.9
|
|
Philippines
|
187,754
|
138,018
|
36.0
|
|
Malaysia
|
328,197
|
254,456
|
29.0
|
|
India
|
447,132
|
350,386
|
27.6
|
|
Singapore
|
306,236
|
250,508
|
22.2
|
|
Thailand
|
321,782
|
269,505
|
19.4
|
|
Total for Asia-Pacific
|
16,980,490
|
12,851,564
|
32.1
|
Industries Using Information Technology
The Philippine banking industry is one of the first users of Information Technology. Megalink operated the first shared network of automated teller machines (ATMs) and was the first switch company to undertake ISO 9000 certification. EDInet Philippines Inc., a company jointly owned by Ayala Corp. and Singapore Network Services Private Limited, is pioneering applications of electronic data interchange (EDI).5
Other IT projects in banking:6
Philippine Dealing System (PDS), an electronic off-floor foreign exchange trading system that has been in place since August 1992
Philippine Domestic Dollar Transfer System (PDDTS), a vehicle and electronic facility to handle and monitor bookkeeping claims to US dollars being traded among participating banks
Project Abstract Secure (PAS), a functional collaboration between the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the BAP where an electronic system has been put in place to verify the proper payment of customs duties/taxes and to remit payments electronically through the banks
The Philippine Stock Exchange set up an electronic trading system in 1994, and provided the investing public with access to market information during trading by using investor terminals located at the public galleries. An electronic link-up with the Securities and Exchange Commission started in 1996. A paperless trading system was introduced in 1997, with the settlement and clearing of transactions using certificates replaced by a book-entry system of transferring ownership for equities and lodging the certificates in a central repository. A clearing facility is being built to supplement the central depository.
Locally, the Philippine PC market was upbeat in 1996. A total of 187,768 units of PCs valued at US$314.28 million were shipped to the country in 1996, a value that is 36% higher than that of 1995.7 PC growth will be driven by the entry of newer Intel processors into the country. The government sector will be a larger market for PCs as it implements its computerization projects with the President's initiatives calling all government sectors to move online. Likewise the business and home markets will continue to buy more PCs as prices continue to decline. There were also significant increases between 1995 and 1996 in the Philippine market for LANs, printers and multi-user systems.
Government
The IT21 Agenda states that microcomputers constituted 99% of all computer systems used in the national government, with 142 PCs per national government agency being the average as of 1997. Almost half of all PCs in the country are either government owned or located within government controlled businesses.8
There is a significant increase in the number of major government computerization projects so that much of the Philippines government is now involved with or using some degree of Information Technology. This has not only further 'digitized' the nation, but has helped to decrease workload and delay in processing of information and create wider access to all documents or government information to the Filipino population. Some of these projects are:
Electronic declaration of import entries and automatic computation of duties and taxes at the Bureau of Customs
Computerized motor vehicle registration
Mobile passport issuance services at the Department of Foreign Affairs
Computerized processing of claims at the Government Service Insurance System
Implementation of a central computer system for the Social Security System services
Computerized professional license examinations at the Professional Regulations Commission
Partial computerization of the civil registry at the National Statistics Office
Electronic system for recording and certifying transactions in government securities at the Bureau of Treasury
As of October 1997, there were over 100 government agencies connected to the Internet, with most of them having their own websites featuring information on their key programs and activities.9