RODOLFO VILLARICA, who is called the “Father of the Philippine Internet,” gave a very interesting speech last night during the Philippine Internet Commerce Society’s 5th National E-Commerce Congress and Exhibit, which was also a celebration of the 13th anniversary of the Internet in the Philippines.
Villarica recounted the chain of events that eventually launched the Philippines into cyberspace, and paid tribute to two individuals who gave invaluable support but whom he had previously failed to acknowledge for their role in making this dream a reality.
Villarica also hailed the efforts of the late Ricardo Gloria, the former education secretary who played a key role in bringing the Internet to the Philippines.
Here’s a video clip of Villarica’s speech from our YouTube channel.
Villarica, a Cebuano, quipped that even as Ferdinand Magellan discovered Cebu, Cebu brought the world to the Philippines via the Internet.
Hmm, 13 years of the Philippine Internet. Let’s hope that won’t prove to be an unlucky number, heh. I’m not superstitious — are you?
March 19th, 2007 at 12:16 am
Paano naging Father of the Philippine Internet si Mr. Villarica? Anong grounds?
AFAIK, the ADB whose headquarters are in Ortigas has Internet connection as early as 1991 or 1992? So kung paunahan lang, iyong guy na nagconfigure sa ADB should be the father of the Internet.
March 18th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Reacting a bit to the comment above, I’m pretty clueless who this guy is. Exactly why is he considered “the Father of the Internet in the Philippines”? What did he pioneer? I’m really curious and I want to know before I digg or blog this entry. Thanks!
March 18th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
I demand a thorough and unbiased genetic test on this! Ok, I just finished reading this 5,000? words article: dated March 26, 2001 published Computer World Phil. Am sold out, he’s really the father. but those network techs and engineers also deserve credit.too By golly, those CISCO 7000 routers is heavy to lug from place to place and configure. If he is the father, let Him be. besides, he’s a cebuano. I don’t want SOME out there in the caves of PalawaN suddenly pops out of the blue, and claims HE is the father.It’s been a long time since then. I was able to FINGER some User at USC cebu,,back then in 1994/95?. No Websites in Living Color nor Music then…Just text, text and more text. At one time, I used the original *WWW* web_browser built by the inventor of World Wide Web himself: Tim Berners-Lee;then, graduated to using LYNX. Mmmm, how time passes..almost barely unnoticed,
March 18th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
that magellan discovered the phil is a fallacy…
internet technology is a finished product imported in the phil. to claim that someone fathered it would be tantamount to pointing a star and claims it as his own (which reminds me of the short story entitled “little prince” discussed in our humanities class)!!!
i just wonder why we still have the worst internet connection in that part of the world…
March 18th, 2007 at 1:43 am
I remember Al Gore’s “I invented the internet” quote.