Boboy Syjuco Vows Fastest Internet For National Progress

Among the presidentiables today, there has been a lot of issues going on but there wasn't one who has a platform for internet reform. As the biggest market in the world for Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) and growing e-commerce and online demand, the country faces one of the poorest broadband service as well as the slowest LTE connection in the world. Such a contrast to the potential investment and revenues the county, and the people can benefit from this technology.

Presidential aspirant Augusto "Boboy" Syjuco, the former secretary for TEDSA, current congressman of the 2nd District of Iloilo, and presidential candidate of KBL has laid out a 15-day implementation of platforms that will revolutionize the county. Among them is Day 7 which will aim for the fastest internet connection that can rival power communication powerhouse like Singapore and Japan with speeds around 60-70 Mbps.

The current average speed in the country is around 3-5 Mbps which insanely far from the dream connection speed. However Congressman Syjuco says it can be possible by developing fiber optic connection for the whole country. It will be costly, but he said that to achieve this plan, certain policies should be changed.

In one of his 15 day agenda, Day 1 focuses on providing education for the masses as he believes that this will bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. Day 2  focuses on creating more jobs after people have been educated and skilled. He would like to change the policy of ownership of foreign investors from the current 40% to 60% which will still favor Filipino interest yet opening new opportunities for investors to open doors here.

Now if both agendas are met, the road for a better broadband connection will be more feasible with the openness of the foreign market. And now local policies and political traditions should also be reformatted as well so that it would not hinder in the creation of needed facilities.

As TESDA secretary, he witnessed the potential of the people capital in progress. He worked in expanding skills and development to many, along with the opening of BPO centers which started the expansion of the industry. 

He also expressed that he will be using "two hands"; One is the bakal na kamao (iron fist), which will implement strict policies, revival of the death penalty, and capital punishment for smuggling; and the other hand is the caring hand (he jokingly called the pabebe hand) which will be the hand who will take care of the people with what they need.

The broadband issue is not just a vanity service that we use for selfies and social media, it has made an impact in the lives of the public that also affects other national issues that the country is facing. This year is critical with the fate of the country with the officials that will be elected and who will be addressing these issues. For now, we will keep dreaming for that speed to happen hopefully in the future.