MANILA — President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has approved the proposed US$288-million Philippine Digital Infrastructure Project (PDIP) of the government.

Approved on Tuesday during the 18th board meeting of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in Malacañang, the flagship project aims to boost broadband connectivity nationwide particularly in remote areas and strengthen cybersecurity in the country.

The NEDA Board is chaired by President Marcos.

The PDIP was presented by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). According to the DICT, the Philippine Digital Infrastructure Project is funded by a World Bank loan worth US$288 million. It is the largest and actually the first of its kind in the Philippines for a loan for digital infrastructure, it added.

“It will seek to complete the national fiber backbone which spans from… remember that in April, the President already launched the first phase of this which goes from Baler to Laoag, then to Metro Manila,” DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian C. Dy said during a press briefing in Malacañang on Wednesday.

This year, the DICT is going to finish Phase 2 and 3 of the national fiber backbone which connects Metro Manila to Southern Luzon, Dy said.

With this loan, DICT should be able to get domestic submarine cables across Visayas and then connect it to Mindanao, he said. On top of that, they should be able to also provide 772 free Wi-Fi sites concentrating on Mindanao in Regions XI and XIII, Dy added.

“We would like to note that according to our research, for every 10 percent increase in internet penetration rate, it constitutes approximately 1.38 percent increase in our Gross Domestic Product and that is the reason why this project is very important,” he explained.

“The reason why we’re targeting regions in Mindanao is because even though the entire country has an internet penetration rate of 73.6 percent, approximately 86 million Filipinos have access to internet – this disparity is larger in Mindanao where in some regions especially Region XIII, the internet penetration rate is lower than 17 percent. So, that’s really the target of this development fund. It’s a development program,” Dy noted.

Dy said DICT should be able to finish by 2028 the entire span of the national fiber backbone. (PND)