The first public market in the country to have a free WiFi or wireless internet access was recently opened to the public in the town of Dauin, Negros Oriental following its switch-on ceremony on Aug. 17, 2023. 

The newly-opened Mega Public Market in Dauin is one of more than 50 active Free Wi-Fi sites in the province implemented through the public-private partnership of Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce & Industry (NOCCI), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Municipality of Dauin, and PHILX Group.

What sets Dauin’s Mega Public Market apart from the rest is that this is the first public market in the country to have free Wi-Fi access, according to NOCCI President Edward Du.

Du said that with the opening of the Mega Public Market, he expects an increase in local economic activities while providing opportunity to equal access to business information.

Currently, the public market has 30-50 bandwidth mbps (megabits per second) that covers the essential internet demands.

DICT-7 Regional Director Frederick Amores said the Free Wi-Fi for All-Free Public Internet Access Program aims to accelerate the Philippine government’s efforts in enhancing internet accessibility for Filipinos to strengthen economic, social, and educational opportunities and bridge the digital divide. 

During the switch-on ceremony at the Mega Public Market, Amores said he was overwhelmed by the support of the almost 500 people in the market who were using the connectivity provided all at the same time. 

“This means the big volume of users is a good indicator that the people here in the market are text savvy to use this technology. So we are very happy and probably need to provide more bandwidth,” said Amores. 

Aside from the free Wi-Fi, the two-storey Mega Public Market in Dauin has a hotel, an elevator, commercial offices, security cameras, power generators, and several stalls for the wet and dry sections.

The Free Wi-Fi program was first rolled in the province in 2017 in two schools in the municipality of Amlan in partnership with DICT, NOCCI, Department of Education (DepEd), and local government unit (LGU) of Amlan.

Du said that after six years, more than 35 public schools all over the province - including Apo Island – now have active free Wi-Fi sites across the province.

This also includes the barangay halls of Barangays Puhagan, Caidiocan, and Malaunay of Valencia town, which are the country’s first off-grid e-community project supported by Energy Development Corporation (EDC).

“We encourage the LGUs to invest in the infrastructure or to provide the tower for the development in their areas,” the NOCCI president said.

“The challenge here is the highway, the middle mile and last mile. That’s where we need the help of the LGUs. In the case of Dauin, they have their own tower for the bandwidth  to network at once,” added Du.

Under the partnership, the role of DICT is to provide the bandwidth while NOCCI’s free Wi-Fi team makes sure that the network is maintained, operational, and provides technical support.

With the free Wi-Fi available at the Mega Public Market, Du is hoping the Palen-QR System will soon be launched at the newly-opened public market. 

“Because of the free wi-fi here, we will be the first public market in Negros Oriental that will implement the Paleng-QR. Ang atong mga vendor sa silong pwede na ka mobayad using QR code (You can now pay the vendors using QR codes),” said Du.

The Paleng-QR system was launched by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to promote the acceptance of digital payments among market vendors and market-goers.

Du said he hopes that the municipality will be the first in the province to go cashless and move towards e-commerce through the Paleng-QR.  (JCT/PIA7 Negros Oriental)