MARCOS TO DICT: HELP LGUS ADAPT TO E–GOV

PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday directed the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to enable local government units (LGUS) to adapt to the e-gov system as part of the government’s digitalization initiative.

The Presidential Communications Office said in a statement on Wednesday that Marcos issued the directive to Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan Uy during the sectoral meeting in Malacañang on DICT’S pending projects and cybersecurity concerns.

“Let’s capacitate our LGUS so they can adapt to the system,” Marcos told Uy.

Uy explained to the President that with the system, the local governments will save a lot of money and “boost” income generation.

“So, our downloading will be easier. They can save from this. And their income generation capacity will increase tremendously because there will be efficiencies in the collection,” Uy said.

At the meeting, the President also mandated the conduct of regular upgrades. “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,” Marcos said.

The DICT announced in December 2022 that the e-gov system, which includes the e-gov Super App, a platform aimed at ensuring the digitalization of government systems in the Philippines, including LGUS.

Also part of the government’s e-government Priority Projects are: 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 is set to be launched early next month, the Palace noted.

Aside from the e-government Priority Projects, DICT’S Priority Initiatives include the 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.

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, and this was traced to good performance on e-commerce legislation, high tech exports, and information and communication technology (ICT) services exports.

Meanwhile, the DICT reported at the sectoral meeting of the President in Malacañang that the agency is now targeting 10,000 additional sites under its Free Public Internet Access Program (FPIAP).

Secretary Uy said the sites will be located in 1,364 localities nationwide. As of last April 23, he said FPIAP covered 3,961 sites in 493 localities.