Isko Moreno to build Fiber Optic backbone for the PH

Last Wednesday, Presidential candidate Isko Moreno Domagoso stated that his administration would build a national fiber optic backbone to boost the country’s communication capabilities, especially during times of natural calamities.

“I have said about a few months ago that we will build our communication backbone, from the tip in the north and south, all the way, Luzon Visayas, Mindanao, via fiber optic,” Moreno said during the Ikaw na Ba presidential interviews on DZBB.

Moreno said that a national fiber optic backbone will help bring the different islands of the Philippines together through stable and reliable interconnectivity. He notes that this technology is crucial to accelerating human and economic growth so the nation can catch up to more modern countries.

The subject was first brought up by Moreno during a dialogue with hundreds of students and youths in Binagonan, Rizal. He notes that if the government is willing to allocate funds from the national budget the project would only take up 1% of the total amount.

“After all, the information highway is itself a very important part of infrastructure development where the Philippines is a laggard compared to many countries,” he said.

“We can deliver this within the first 2 years of a new administration, if our people will decide on May 9 na iba naman, innovative naman ang leadership,” Moreno said.

However, the Manila Mayor has said that this proposal has been rejected repeatedly by the Department of Information and Computer Technology. “The bulk of its budget reverted to treasury year in and year out due to lack of vision for digital transformation,” explained Moreno.

According to Moreno, this technology would also aid Filipinos in education and business as it is an integral part of efficient tax collection and the fight against corruption. He has stated that adopting a system of online transactions in government will reduce human discretion and the risk of corruption.

“Unti-unting nawawala yung human discretion. Sabi nga ng professor ko sa Boston: ‘The only way to solve corruption is to limit human discretion in government transaction,” he said.

“We have adopted that (online transaction) in the city of Manila, and this is scalable. Customs and other income-generating agencies of government, we have to adopt existing technology. All we have to do is to put direction, right perspective, [the] right mindset of a leader towards a better system for the people, and for us to collect properly so that we will not resort to raising taxes. Maging episyente na lang tayong kumolekta at maging masinop at mainam sa paggastos,” said Moreno.

This project is included in Moreno’s 10-Point Bilis Kilos Economic Agenda which he unveiled last Monday with his fellow Aksyon Demokratiko part members, Dr. Willie Ong for vice president and senatorial slate educator and registered nurse Dr. Carl Balita; Marawi civic leader Samira Gutoc and former Quezon City councilor Jopet Sison.

The agenda aims to boost the country’s digital infrastructure by building a means to connect all the schools, government offices, and industries that heavily rely on internet connectivity.

Improvements to internet connectivity, especially from sub-regional, regional, and metro centers ensure that Filipinos will have access to the internet with a speed of at least 1 Mbps.

Aside from developing a fiber optic backbone for the country, Moreno also plans to acquire satellite internet access through Starlink, a company headed by US billionaire Elon Musk. This satellite service would provide the country with high-speed broadband internet and is currently only available in 24 other countries.

“I hope someday that Elon Musk will be successful in deploying the low orbiter internet. So far nagiging matagumpay yung low orbit satellite internet connectivity na ginagawa ni Elon Musk sa US and I hope someday our country can acquire such facility,” Moreno said over radio station DZBB.

“So that is for purposes of communication. We have copper (wires) through PLDT, we have airwave through wi-fi, we have [a] physical backbone of communication, what we call internet highway that we are going to build and plan for a few billions for that matter and we have low orbiter satellite for our internet connectivity for connection and communication, lalo na pagdating ng aberya,” said Moreno.