IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Despite not being a beneficiary of the e-Government Fund, Congress for one is already conducting its own computerization. Unfortunately, lack of budget is its worst enemy and it may take some time to complete its modernization plan.

“We were becoming less successful in collecting taxes, and our Tax Effort Ratio had seen a dramatic decline,” explains Lilia Guillermo, CIO of BIR. The Tax Effort Ratio is a gauge of tax collection efficiency, representing total revenue collections divided by GDP. “We realised that against a backdrop of ongoing changes to the tax laws, we had to think out of the box to generate tax revenue. So we decided to concentrate our efforts on improving compliance of large taxpayers.”

The e-Government Fund Committee said it has approved this week a R194 million (US$3.5 million) project dubbed as Public Safety Information Network (PSIN) whose aim is to interconnect the disparate database systems of different agencies under the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and two other agencies under the Office of the President (OP).

In an interview, Marikina mayor Maridess Fernando said the P12-million project went operational last month.

This means that with just a click of a mouse, stakeholders and the public in general can "shop" conveniently and invest in the best technology or simply adopt which one would be suitable to them,thus establishing linkages among S&T practitioners, enterprises and other agencies faster and easier.

According to the NCC, 100 percent of Mindanao's 25 provinces, 27 cities and 405 municipalities now have websites.

But it’s good to know that at least one controversial government agency has been doing a lot better since the advent of computerization. And if the Land Transportation Office is making a lot of headway in improving its services to motor vehicle owners and in stamping out fraud and corruption, that’s because it has embraced computer technology.

However, despite his optimism, Senator Edgardo J. Angara noted that it requires investment in infrastructure from both the public and private sector.

The initiative, dubbed "E-Governance for Municipal Development," is being undertaken by the Canadian Executive Service Organization (CESO) in partnership with the League of Municipalities in the Philippines (LMP) and its research arm the Mayor’s Development Center (MDC).

Reuel Oliver, representative of Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo, said use of the Internet and mobile technology to improve service delivery to Naga's constituents started as early as 1997 when the city's Web site was first launched.

"In 1997, Naga City was one of the first LGUs in the country to go on the Internet through its own Web site. After the launch, it took three years before we would finally update the site. We realized that we had to use the Web as a tool to empower the people," Oliver said during an ICT forum in Makati City.

Naga City joined two other countries in the Asia-Pacific, three in Africa, two in Europe and North America and one in Latin America for the highly-coveted award as the United Nations General Assembly “celebrates the value and virtue of service to the community.”

There are more questionable ICT projects in the local government units and other national government agencies, said Efren Ricalde, president and CEO of GeoSpatial Solutions Inc(GSI), a local firm that has worked on government ICT projects. GSI is a local independent software vendor which has been working with IBM Philippines.

Ambassador Cesar Bautista, private sector chairman of the NCC, said the business community welcomes the launching of the Bureau of Customs (BoC)-led National Single Window considered as second to Singapore in complying with global standards in the speed of exporting and importing goods.

The NCC has partnered with the Development Bank of the Philippines Data Center Inc. (DCI) as the financial institution for the e-Gov Payment Portal.

Recently, the DCI awarded Fujitsu Philippines the bid to develop the core payment system.