These are possible if the Philippine government adopts the e-gov system, according to officials, prompting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to direct the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to assist local government units (LGUS) in using it to simplify transactions.
Marcos presided over on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, a sectoral meeting in Malacañang on DICT’s pending projects and cybersecurity concerns.
During the meeting, DICT Secretary Ivan Uy said the local government will actually save a lot of money and income generation “will increase tremendously” if they adopt the e-gov system, noting that collection will be more efficient.
“So again, it all boils down to that. That’s really the essence of digitalization. Let’s be sure that we are able to upgrade this system. Set it up to get them (LGUs) ready, so they know how to operate it,” said Marcos.
During his first State of the Nation Address (Sona), Marcos highlighted the need for digitalization in the country to improve the daily lives of the people especially in transacting with the government, as well as for better governance.
The e-Government Priority Projects include centralizing government cloud services; e-Report, for citizens’ feedback and complaints; and e-Gov App, which will integrate all government services into one platform.
The e-Gov Super App, a platform aimed to ensure the digitalization of government systems in the Philippines, including LGUs, is set to be launched early next month.
Broadband ng Masa, National Broadband Plan (NBP), Free Public Internet Access Program, National Government Data Center (NGDC), and Enhancing ICT competency through Upskilling and Reskilling were also part of the DICT’s priority initiatives.
In 2022, the Philippines ranked 71st out of 131 economies in the global Network Readiness Index, a significant jump from the 85th ranking in 2021 due to good performance on e-commerce legislation, high tech exports, and information and communication technology (ICT) services exports. (SunStar Philippines)