Erwin Oliva’s letter

January 21, 2005

I recently received a letter from Erwin Oliva of the Inquirer.

Hi Erwin,

Thanks for dropping by. Here are the answers to your questions:

1) Based on the change of IANA/ICANN policies on disputes, how are you going to handle the choice between being a registrar and registry?

Basically, we have no idea why Mr. Pena wants us to choose between being a Registrar or Registry. We’ve asked him several times in person & in our letters to him what the rationale for this was. What problem is he trying to fix? Does he think that by closing down the DotPH Registrar division, more companies will apply to be Registrars? If you look at our website, all it takes to be a DotPH Registrar is for someone to buy 20 domains! Today, DotPH has over 200 Registrars, and is actively encouraging more to apply . See June 10, 2004 post here.

Does he think that by doing this, the prices of PH domains will drop? We’ve tried to explain that domain prices are determined by market forces. In the Philippines, practically every ISP sells COM domains and PH Domains. Yet a survey taken in 2004 (See Part VIII, Pricing) shows that the retail price of COM and PH are roughly the same at $35/year. By preventing Dotph from being a Registrar, you reduce competition in the marketplace and this may actually cause PH domains to be more expensive than COM. And even if Mr. Pena were to order the Registry to drop wholesale prices to the level of COM, it’s clear that the retail price of PH will not change!

We’re totally in the dark, and what we’ve suggested is for Mr. Pena to first itemize what problems he sees in the way DotPH operates, in our service, in our policies, etc. Then we can talk about ways to solve this, and then draft a contract that binds us (and the government) to prevent these problems from recurring. We’ve asked for this so many times,

see
Nov 14, 2003
Feb 5, 2004
Mar 12, 2004
Mar 25, 2004
Mar 31, 2004

that I can only guess that Mr. Pena is concerned that he won’t be able to find any substantial problems in our operations?

If you recall, the very same people Mr. Pena is dealing with, who are now calling for redelegation, were asked in 2000 by then DTI Asst. Secretary Toby Monsod, to list and substantiate their complaints. By 2002, every single complaint filed wasdismissed by the DTI.

2) in case government pushes for redelegation if you’re not able to comply with its guidelines, what are you prepared to do?

Please take a look at RFC 1591, which states that ICANN will not step in unless there is proof that DotPH has “substantially misbehaved”. This is why I think it’s important for Mr. Pena to really study if there are any substantial (and substantiated) problems in our operation. It helps him seize control of the Registry (if that is really his objective); but more importantly, it allows us to start discussing ways to solve these problems which may not necessarily be as drastic and confrontational.

I’ve tried to explain to Mr. Pena that the Guidelines, as crafted are way too onerous for anyone to agree with. For example, the Guidelines give the CICT the right to impose arbitrary rules and regulations. And if we disagreed, we would have no choice but to face redelegation! I don’t see how any Registry can possibly agree to this. Who would invest time and money in a business that depends on the whims of the CICT? IMHO, that’s a formula that encourages corruption.

I’ve also tried to explain to Mr. Pena that Guidelines are riddled with errors. For example, a key provision (Article XII, section 2) is that the Administrator should “divest itself of either the operations of Registry or its Registar operations”. In reality, the PH Administrator has no equity in the Registry or Registrar operation. Never had, and never will! So theoretically, even if we wanted to comply with the Guidelines, we can’t!

The message here is that if Mr. Pena wanted to solve problems, he would have involved us in the making of the Guidelines. But we weren’t invited to the Advisory Board meetings. All the papers we painstakingly submitted during the public hearings went unanswered.

See March 31, 2004
Feb 5, 2004

It’s really unfortunate. As a result , Mr. Pena has approved a set of Guidelines that are not only erroneous, but - if implemented - will substantially weaken the PH Domain, rather than strengthen it.

Update: I’ve also just had a conversation today with Mr. Pena, where he absolutely refused to discuss amending the Guidelines and repeatedly threatened to redelegate. So I guess the die is cast….