The country's long-standing issue of poor Internet connection may be a thing of the past next year should the Department of Information and Communications Technology use its P1.5 billion fund allocated by Congress to settle the issue.

In 2016, former President Rodrigo Duterte tasked the DICT with implementing a National Broadband Plan to provide free public WiFi access and improve the country's overall speed, including its remote areas.

This became the government's response to the nation, which has long lamented over the speed and cost of Internet services in the country.

Speaker Martin Romualdez expressed the hope that the P1.5 billion allocated to the DICT, which is a portion of the P77 billion in institutional amendments made by the lower chamber in the P5.268 trillion national budget of the Marcos administration for the fiscal year 2023, would be used to address the ongoing Internet problem.

The P77 billion provision of the House on the national budget will supplement the funding for education, health, transportation, and other essential social services.

"And the Internet is a critical social service nowadays, as it is deeply entrenched in the way we live. We use the internet for education, for delivering and availing social services, for our businesses, and for almost every facet of our lives," said the Speaker.

Appropriations committee chairperson Zaldy Co of the Ako Bicol Partylist, meanwhile, said the fund allocated for the NBP would go a long way toward kicking off the program, which is envisioned to provide the backbone for providing internet to all government agencies nationwide.