Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Tuesday appointed Social Security System (SSS) President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Robert Joseph M. de Claro as Secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), filling the post vacated by the resignation of Henry Rhoel R. Aguda. The DICT is the Philippine government’s primary agency for information and communications policy and programs.

An ad interim appointment is issued while Congress is not in session and remains subject to confirmation by the Commission on Appointments.

“I have already signed the ad interim appointment of the new DICT secretary. He is Robert Joseph de Claro, he is the current SSS President and CEO,” Mr. Marcos told reporters at the Palace after the oath-taking of the new officers of the Malacañang Media Groups.

“Besides that, he also has a very strong background in terms of the digital economy and the digital world,” the President said.

Mr. de Claro joined the SSS in January 2023 and chaired its Information Technology Collection Committee. He also represented the state pension fund on the board of Union Bank, which Mr. Marcos described as the country’s number one digital bank, and chairs the board of Union Digital Bank. That digital banking background tracks with the digital-economy rationale the President cited for the appointment.

Speaking in a separate interview, Mr. de Claro thanked the SSS staff and expressed regret at being unable to bid his colleagues a proper farewell, noting that appointments cannot be disclosed beforehand.

Asked about social media regulation and proposed bans, which ranked among the main challenges of the previous DICT leadership, he said prevention was the best approach. “The best cure for this problem is prevention,” he said.

He also pledged a thorough review of the department’s projects, budgets, and procurement. “I assure the public that over the next three months, there should be a clear-cut plan,” he said. The pledge puts a three-month clock on the start of his tenure at the agency.

Mr. de Claro said the President had taken a “very important stand” on the proposed ban in Singapore, where Mr. Marcos said the matter would be carefully reviewed. He added that the media could help ensure children are protected from online harms.

On the alleged “ghost internet” scheme, Mr. de Claro said providers had installed about 12,000 internet sites this year, calling it one of the department’s achievements. “We’ll have 20,000 sites by end of the year,” he said. “Now the question is, how do we monitor them?” He said the department needs the providers’ help to ensure that the equipment at the sites is working properly.

Meanwhile, Lino Edgardo S. Cayetano, general manager of the state-run People’s Television Network, was sworn in as the new secretary of the Presidential Communications Office, replacing Dave M. Gomez. He is the sixth official to head the communications arm under the Marcos administration.

— Erika Mae P. Sinaking

Source: BusinessWorld