The new and rejuvenated ISOC Philippines Chapter (ISOC-PH) gave its first public presentation at the Internet Governance Pulong (IGP) held during the APNIC 27 Meeting in conjunction with the Asia Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies (APRICOT 2009). The event also marked the public launch of ISOC-PH after a rejuvenation process initiated by founding member, Rodel Urani.
The newly elected president, Fatima Lasay formally introduced ISOC-PH at the IGP and delivered a presentation outlining the potential contributions of ISOC-PH to the broader questions of Internet Governance, including the need to come to terms with difference and conflict, and get beyond the idealism of “commonality.” She emphasized the relationships that ISOC-PH needs to establish in order to actively engage and make visible a more culturally open process in global Internet governance. She also introduced the Founding Members of ISOC-PH and its active incoming members.
In his presentation, Rodel Urani shared one of the advocacies of ISOC-PH – the careful and strategic utilization of the Internet, in particular, the move towards the adoption of IPv6. Mr Urani also noted the need to create an open dialogue with stakeholders of the Internet in the Philippines, and where ISOC-PH intends to assist in all Internet-related activities including how IPv6 in the country is being supported.
Both Ms Lasay and Mr Urani spoke during the IGP session on Philippines participation. In a second session on Internet Governance in Asia Pacific, Rajnesh Singh, ISOC Regional Manager for South and Southeast Asia, presented on behalf of ISOC, and highlighted the impact of engaging with ISOC on Internet governance issues. “With such a large public focus,” Mr Singh explained, “the Internet becomes an important global public policy issue.”
Another featured speaker at the IGP was Dr John C. Klensin. Dr. Klensin spoke about internationalized domain names – an overview from both the technical and policy standpoints, and the decisions and changes that were being made and the impact on issues, both conceptual and protocol, regarding the original standard.
Other speakers were: Philippine Commission on ICT director, Philip Varilla, BitStop Inc president, Wilson Chua, Bani Lara from the Philippine Advanced Science and Technology Institute, Joint Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Government of India, Mr N Ravi Shanker, and APNIC director general, Paul Wilson. Moderating the panel was another ISOC-PH founding member, Randall Lozano.
The ISOC Philippines Chapter (then called ISOCCP) was first chartered in 1999 with Philippine Internet pioneers Dr William “Bill” Torres and Dr Willy Gan. The rejuvenation of the Chapter began in 2008 and its formal recognition granted in January 2009 through Sabrina Wilmot, ISOC Manager for Chapters & Individual Members. There will be a formal note of recognition and welcome from the ISOC Board of Trustees at their next ISOC Board of Trustees meeting.
