RP government to oversee .ph domain name registry

July 4th, 2003
By Erwin Lemuel G. Oliva

After more than a year of deliberations, the Information Technology and E-commerce Council (ITECC) has decided to have the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) oversee the registration of web sites making use of the ".ph" Internet domain, ITECC executive director Virgilio Peold INQ7.net Friday.

The council, the highest Philippine authority on information technology and communications matters, will be drafting next week the implementing rules and regulations that will be used by the NTC in maintaining the ".ph" country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registry. The guidelines are expected to be ready by next month, Peaid.

An advisory body will also be created to help NTC on matters and issues related to ".ph" domain administration, he added.

The move by the ITECC will affect current administrator of the ".ph" country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registry, Joel Disini, chief executive of dotPH, which is also the country's sole domain registry firm.

In a separate interview, Disini declined to comment on the issue until "I see what this is all about."

"I'm not aware of this decision. But it seems that they are passing the buck," Disini said.

Since last year, a technical working group headed by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) has been working on several options to resolve various issues related to the administration of the ".ph" domain, Peaid.

Among these issues were previous plans to sell ".ph" domains as "phone" domains rather than as country domains, he said.

The issue of dotPH being the sole registry of the ".ph" domain--when other countries have several domain registrars working under one ccTLD--will also be addressed, the executive added, in addition to pricing issues.

According to Pethe technical working group handling the controversial ".ph" issue proposed several options on how to address the re-delegation of the ".ph" domain registration.

One of the options proposed by the ITECC was to name an oversight policy board to monitor the "performance" of dotPH as ccTLD registrar.

Another option was for government to take over the ".ph" domain registry, essentially taking it away from Disini,

According to an online statement published back in March 27, 2001, dotPH has supported the idea of creating a policy board that will assist in determining policy directions for the domain.

Disini himself initiated efforts leading to such a body back in June 2000.

DotPH insisted, however, that the policy board should be a consultative body rather than a regulatory one; should accurately represent stakeholders from the local community; and must be held accountable for its actions and the effect of these actions on the domain and on those who hold ".ph" domains.

DotPH has opposed moves to re-delegate control of the ".ph" domain to a new non-profit entity, saying that it would be a step backward and would retard the growth of ".ph" as a domain.