PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. named Social Security System (SSS) President and CEO Robert Joseph de Claro as the new secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
Marcos made the announcement on Tuesday, citing de Claro’s strong background in the digital economy as a qualification for the position.
De Claro replaces Henry Aguda, who resigned last week.
“He joined the Social Security Commission in January of ’23 and he’s the chair of the Information and Technology Collection Committee in the SSS. He represented SSS on the boards of Union Bank, which is the number one digital bank that we have, and chairman of the board of Union Digital Bank,” Marcos said.
In an interview with reporters, de Claro said he will review all the projects, budgets, and procurement at the department.
“I assure the public that over the next three months, there should be a clear-cut plan on how we take the ICT to where it should be,” he said.
When asked about the ongoing investigation of the “ghost internet” issue — where non-existent free Wi-Fi installation sites were reported — de Claro said the agency plans to have at least 20,000 sites installed nationwide by the end of the year.
“I think this year, there’s about 12,000 sites already installed. That is one of our achievements actually, we have 20,000 sites by the end of the year,” he said.
“We need the assistance of the providers to ensure that the gadgets installed in the different sites are working properly,” he added.
Asked if Aguda should take accountability for the issue, de Claro said the former DICT secretary “did his best to try to find ways and means on how to help provide better technology to the Philippines.”
