Duterte schoolmate to be first DICT secretary

A schoolmate of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte will be the first secretary of the newly-formed Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

Globe announced Wednesday that Duterte has appointed lawyer Rodolfo Salalima to head the new department tasked to formulate and implement policies in developing ICT in the country.

Salalima used to be Globe’s Senior Vice President for Corporate and Regulatory Affairs until his retirement in 2008.

He now serves as the president of the Philippine Chamber of Telecommunications Operators, Inc. (PCTO) and Board Director of the Telecoms Infrastructure Corporation of the Philippines (TELICPHIL). He is also a member of the executive committee of the National ICT Advisory Council.

In 2011, Salalima was tapped as the Asia Pacific representative and one of the vice chairman of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Council Working Group for the Amendment of the ITU Constitution and Convention based in Geneva, Switzerland.

He began his 40-year-old career in ICT as the board director and Corporate and Chief Counsel of Radio Communications of the Philippines (RCPI) and as vice president and head of legal and human relations of International Communications Corporation (renamed Bayantel).

Salalima also authored “Telecommunications in the Information Revolution”, a treatise and lawbook on the national policy on telecommunications published by the UP Law Center in 2015.

Just like Duterte, Salalima is also from San Beda College. He was a Philosophy magna cum laude graduate and Bachelor of Laws cum laude graduate. —ALG, GMA News