Amable Aguiluz V, chairman of the Philippines' Y2K commission, heads the center in East Asia and the Pacific. He answered Asiaweek's questions via e-mail. The information that may be fueling this anxiety is quite inaccurate. In fact, governments and businesses within the region have made it their top priority and allocated considerable resources to address the Y2K problem. Mission-critical sectors have been identified and are the focus of remediation and contingency planning activities.
Most Asian countries are well on their way.
Many have set June deadlines for Y2K compliance. I am confident they will be able to meet their deadlines. In the Philippines, we expect the utilities, telecommunications and finance sectors to finish their remediation projects by June. Most of our government agencies will be through by September. Yes, but even in less-developed countries, telecommunications and finance sectors still depend on computer technology.