During the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Group Meetings hosted by the Philippines, the 51st Meeting of Telecommunications and Information Working Group (TELWG) held its own group meetings last May 12 to 16, 2015 at Boracay, Aklan, Philippines.
The TELWG meetings included the Security and Prosperity Steering Group (SPSG) meeting which focused on the Workshop on ICT for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management.
CVISNET Executive Director Jeffrey Llanto was one of the highlighted resource speakers during the event. He presented the positive learnings gathered during the implementation of the foundation’s project “Feasibility Study on Restoring Connectivity through the Use of Movable and Deployable ICT Resource Unit (The MDRU Project)”.
It can be recalled, the MDRU project, is a joint cooperation project between the International Telecommunications Union of the United Nations (ITU), the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication of Japan(MIC) and Department of Science and Technology ICT Office of the Philippines(DOST-ICTO), with the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone of Japan (NTT) and CVISNET as the implementing partners of the project.
The MDRU project aims to provide ICT services such as Internet connectivity, phone services and Disaster Information system, which are immediate, sustainable and low cost to disaster prone areas of the Philippines.
Dir. Llanto discussed the project implementation; with the cooperation with the Municipality of San Remigio, Cebu, Philippines; during calamities, the MDRU can establish a command center for a local chief executive and provide communications and control within an affected area. Further, the MDRU can be used to extend communication to far locations and even establish a worldwide coverage by linking to satellite phone services. The MDRU can also be used to gather and collate information such as images, audio and video sources, provide list of victims, and control and monitoring of relief efforts and goods distribution.
Aside from calamities the MDRU can also be used during normal times, such as using it to provide the MDRU covered area and allow registered users to communicate with each other by using their smartphones via the VOIP service include in the installed equipment.
The Attache Case MDRU Model was showcased during the meeting. Several inquiries on the MDRU project and equipment were raised; OCD Executive Director Alexader Pama showed interest on the equipment.
Other presenters during the SPSG working group meetings were Atty. Rogelio Panao of UP-Philippines , Mr. Mariano Reyes of NOAH DOST-Philippines, Ms. Maricel Cruz of NEC-Philippines, Mr. Tomoharu Hayashi of MIC-Japan, Mr. Kevin Obecio of OCD-Philippines, Mr. Antonio Padre of ICTO-Philippines and Mr. Llanto of CVISNET. Mr. Chung Hai Sung was the convenor of the event and assisted by ICTO Deputy Director Nicolas Ojeda and Mr. George Tardio.