Engineer who connected PH to internet passed away
https://www.facebook.com/DICTgovph/videos/3024395644241124/UzpfSTE4MjcyODk4ODQ4ODkwMjoyNjU3NDI3NzQxMDE5MDAy/
The man behind why Filipinos are able to access the internet today, passed away on Thursday, December 26, according to the report of Newsbytes.ph.
The technology news website reported that Filipino Engineer Benjamin “Benjie” Tan succumbed to cancer in a lymph node.
Prior to his passing, Newsbytes.ph said former tech journalist Edison Ong told them that Tan was confined in a hospital thrice this year due to pneumonia and for radiotherapy to treat a lymph node mass in his abdomen.
Tan is the one who installed the router which linked the Philippines to the world via the internet for the first time on March 29, 1994.
On Friday, December 27, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) paid a tribute to Tan through posting a five-minute video of him on its Facebook page.
“The Department of ICT mourns with the country in the passing of Engr. Benjie Tan,” it said.
In the clip, the Philippine internet pioneer shared that it was a “bit nerve-wracking” for him when he first connected the country to the internet.
But while it was what he felt on that day, Tan did not consider such accomplishment as a big deal, saying, “It was just another job, kaya (that’s why) I didn’t see the point of bragging about it.”
“The euphoria, the blah, blah about this just came later on,” he said.
Tan said he believes that having access to the internet can make one’s life better for he can learn from any information he obtains online.
“I have not forgotten hope that with internet access, someone out there, a student or whoever, could use what information is available to improve their lives. There’s got to be more to it than just posting pictures and selfies,” he said.
“I pretty much hope and pray that the net for all the possibilities that it provides a person, that it improve[s] their lives somehow, someway in a true, meaningful manner,” he added.
Last March, the country celebrated the 25th anniversary of Philippine internet.
