A measure seeking to institutionalize the government’s transition to e-governance is one step closer to being passed into law after hurdling the House Committee on Appropriations last week.
The measure aims to boost the use of information and communicationtechnology in transforming government processes, operations, and service delivery.
This will cover all executive, legislative, and judicial offices, including local government units, state universities and colleges,government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs), and other units that provide business and non-business-related transactions.
It also seeks to establish the Philippine Infostructure Management Corp. (PIMC) which will focus on the delivery of government services through the interoperability and maximization of resources.
“With the establishment of the Philippine Infostructure ManagementCorporation, we can ensure that our citizens will have access to efficient, reliable, and responsive government services,” Committee on Appropriations chair and Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co said in a statement Sunday.
Following the approval at the committee level, the measure will nowproceed to the plenary for further deliberation and approval.
“The passage of the bill is seen as a critical step toward thecountry’s digital transformation, enabling the government to provide fast, transparent, and efficient services to the public,” Co said.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in October said the country’s system should be digitalized to compete with other countries, with the enhancement of digital infrastructure among the top priorities.
He emphasized the need to hasten the country’s digital transformationto enable his administration to provide “fast, transparent, andefficient” services to the public.
During the National Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Summit 2022, Marcos said the government must take “full advantage” of the new technologies and techniques to provide the Filipino people the “best” services they deserve.
“And if we are to succeed in digitalizing our bureaucracy, our government, and to make the way that we do business, the way that we work, the way that we even communicate with one another, we (have) to make it as efficient, as streamlined, and as affordable as possible so that we can provide that extremely important service,” he said in a speech at the Manila Hotel.
“This summit is therefore correct, is apt, is timely for what we will discuss here will be instrumental not only in improving our global standing but most importantly, securing the Philippines’ place in the future.”
Marcos reiterated his plan to make the government “more adaptive tofast-changing developments,” as he lamented that the Philippines has ranked 89th out of 193 countries in the United Nations E-Government Survey.
The Philippines’ current standing is not “encouraging”, he said, adding that this shows that the country is experiencing a “regression”.
“We are already playing catch up in terms of digitalization to therest of the world. So it is not as if we have a choice here. We don’t have a choice that maybe we’ll do it, maybe we’ll not,” he said.
“It is simply not the way that the modern world works. We have to digitalize if we are going to keep up all our plans for the transformation of the economy and our continuing redefinition of the Philippines’ place in the community of nations.”
The President said the country could only keep up if hisadministration is able to digitalize government services with the help of the private sector.
Public-private partnership, he said, is vital in realizing the government’s bid for e-governance.
He acknowledged that the private sector is the one that “leads the technology.”
“Those partnerships are not a business partnership, but I suppose itis a sharing of technologies, a sharing of knowledge. It is a sharing of the state-of-the-art from the private sector, with the public sector, and that working together that will bring us to success,” he said.
Marcos also cited the need to adopt a “holistic” approach to harnessing various technologies for the country’s digital transformation.
“We have the tools. We have the knowledge. And most importantly, we have the people. All that is left to do is to have the will and the resolve to achieve it. So I reiterate my call to our partners: Let us forge ahead, build a better, brighter, more progressive future for the ICT sector, for the bureaucracy, for the entire Philippines,” he said.
Marcos also assured that his administration would facilitate theimmediate passage of the proposed E-Government Act and the proposed E-Governance Act to improve service delivery in the government.
He noted that during the recent Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council meeting, there was a commitment to consolidate the two bills.
“They are working on it and I have asked them to bring it out as quickly as they possibly can so that we have the framework with which we will digitalize our government, which we will digitalize our bureaucracy,” he said. “The bills that we have asked the legislature to pass will enable to ensure, fast, transparent, and efficient government service for the Filipinos.”