The Foundation for Media Alternatives pays tribute to Dr. Rodolfo Villarica (1933-2024), one of the pioneers who helped Filipinos access the Internet and connect to the rest of the world. Fondly called by friends and peers as Doc Rudy, he was a chemist by training. But when he was inducted as a trustee in the Industrial Research Foundation (IRF) in 1993, Doc Rudy was interested in “centralizing technical information from different schools and government agencies for easy access” for researchers.
This endeavor led him to working on the PhilNet Project Phase II (PhilNet 2.0), which envisioned a nation-wide network following the successful email connection made between the Philippines and Australia in that same year. Having been appointed as the project administrator of PhilNet 2.0, Doc Rudy helped secure the funding needed to establish and operate the network. While he was also working on financially supporting this project, Doc Rudy, together with Dr. Ricardo Gloria and Dr. William Padolina, established the Philippine Network Foundation (PHNet).
The PHNet brought together the country’s bright minds who would be vital in making the country’s first Internet connection. In March 1994, the PHNet organized an email conference in Cebu where the fateful Internet connection was made. The rest was history.
In making Internet connection possible in the Philippines, Doc Rudy and his peers significantly changed the trajectory of the country’s history and its people’s lives. After thirty years have passed since that historic event, most Filipinos are now dependent on the Internet for social communication, education, employment, and many more.
Even then, Doc Rudy did not stop working on improving the Philippine Internet. In an interview by the MSC Institute of Technology in 1999, Doc Rudy claimed that “[e]very barangay should have access to [the] Internet.”
“This will facilitate information dispersal to and retrieval from all sectors of society and from all over the country. Government can keep its finger on the pulse of the people. It will also unify the Filipinos since they will be able to communicate inexpensively with each other and spur business development,” he continued.
Thirty years since the Philippines first accessed the Internet, the mission to connect every Filipino remains, and for this pursuit, Doc Rudy stands as the role model every digital rights defender must look up to and emulate.
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