BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A Bacoleña lawyer has been designated by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as Undersecretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology.
She is Atty. Jocelle Batapa Sigue, also a former councilor of Bacolod City.
In a statement, Sigue yesterday said that she took her oath before DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy, “with the goal of helping our country leverage on digital innovation by including the countryside in the discussion.”
“I am truly inspired by the direction set by Secretary Uy, which is to include among his priorities, the development of ICT driven industries to generate more jobs and investments for the country,” she stressed
Sigue also said that the DICT is well aware of the necessary metrics to build the ideal innovation ecosystem for digital business to thrive in all regions.
Therefore, I believe my lens as a countryside digital advocate for almost two decades will come in handy as I tackle my new responsibilities with the help of the entire DICT and key stakeholders, she added.
In 2008, Sigue co-founded the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP), an umbrella organization of all ICT councils in the country.
Prior to it, she led the creation of the Bacolod Negros Occidental Federation for ICT (BNEFIT) which worked or the successful inclusion of the Bacolod as one of the six Centers of Excellence in ICT Business Process Management and Tholons International Top 100 Cities in the World for ICT locations, in 2007.
In 2014, Sigue was named as Philippine Individual Contributor of the Year during the International ICT Awards given by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Philippines.
She was the 2012 Eisenhower Fellow of the Philippines and one of the 2009 Asia 21 Top Ten Young Leaders of the Philippines.
In 2019 and 2020, Sigue served as Digital Transformation Consultant for the Tatak Pinoy Policy Program of the Office of Senator Sonny Angara where she helped design laws for the Philippines to thrive in the digital age.
Currently, she is a certified Go Negosyo Coach and for Digitalization under the Department of Trade and Industry; and technical consultant for the Digital Cities Program of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).*
