Even though Benjie Tan was credited for making activating the actual connection, the Philippines wouldn’t have a live internet connection if not for Dr. William “Bill” Torres.
He was the first Filipino to earn a PhD in Computer Science and initiated the first informal negotiations with the US National Science Foundation to establish a live internet connection in the Philippines.
His efforts extended into looking for financial support from the private sector because the government had very little money back then.
In the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the internet in the Philippines, Dr. William said that there is a need for a new government body called Department of Information and Communications Technology.
He said that the department should “bring ICT to the mainstream. In the same way that we think of water, electricity, and other utilities as essential, so too must we also think of ICT in the long-term.”
Many of us now enjoy the benefits of the internet but people in the rural area are still out of reach of these benefits.