Sadly, however, the outgoing administration did not provide the same level of leadership in E-Governance -- the pervasive implementation of ICT in delivering government services to the public.
It is therefore incumbent upon the incoming administration to focus on it to build its own legacy in ICT development. E-Governance has been defined as more than just automating existing manual processes. It is developing a new relationship between the government and the citizenry. It requires breaking of old paradigms and changing the behavior of both public officials and citizens.
Automated election system
The Automated Election System (AES) could have been an excellent example of what E-Governance is all about. The AES has dramatically changed the mind-set of everyone on how an electoral process can be conducted. At the start of the canvassing process, it was obvious that even some members of the board of canvassers were struggling to adapt to a digital world.
E-Governance should also affect the behavior of both the government officials and the citizens. Again, the AES demonstrated this in the last election. For the first time in our history, we found candidates conceding to the presumed winner the day after the elections, something unheard of in the past. Similarly, the public now expect results to be provided them the day after.
Building trust
The banking sector would rank as the most advanced in the use of ICT in servicing their customers. One of the factors behind this is the trust that banks have earned from their clients. This is the core of the problem we faced in this first-ever AES. Regretfully, Comelec did not have this same trust from their constituents prior to embarking on its automation project. Ironically, the AES may have inadvertently even helped in gaining some trust in the institution at the onset. Unfortunately, technology, no matter how perfect it is, will not be immune from detractors if trust in the institution has not been established beforehand.
This is precisely the rationale behind the need for the incoming administration to adopt E-Governance as its flagship program in ICT. The mandate given by a majority of our citizens was based on their trust on President-elect Noynoy Aquino. Now, he faces the challenge of having this trust rub off on our government institutions. He can do this by ensuring that government services are delivered more efficiently and effectively.
The new President needs to leverage on the people’s confidence and trust in him to institute reforms. He should recognize that ICT can provide him with the tools to accomplish this. He should not succumb to the proverbial "nice to have but we have other priorities" syndrome.
Governance centric ict master plan
As a starter, President-elect Aquino should consider an Executive Order (EO) to implement an E-Governance ICT strategy. This EO will form the legal basis for implementing a comprehensive E-Governance Centric ICT Master Plan.
With the overall platform of the incoming administration focused on good governance, E-Governance should be the centerpiece of its ICT strategy.
The strategy will be built around the implementation of E-Governance in critical government services. Human Capital development will provide the capacity building needs of the public and government, not only in technical training but also in the more important aspect of values formation and change management. An infrastructure should be built to provide the broadband capability to allow these services to be accessed by citizens down to the barangay level. A business development strategy will promote public-private partnerships and pave the way for private sector participation in the delivery of these government services. And lastly, a focused legislative agenda is needed to pass laws supportive of the E-Governance Master Plan.
The new administration should learn from the experience of Comelec in the implementation of the computerized election process. In spite of all the glitches and controversies surrounding it, it cannot be denied that it has succeeded in demonstrating the impact of technology in changing the mind-set on how elections can be conducted. More importantly, it has even influenced behaviors of our public officials in more readily accepting the verdict of the electorate. Hopefully, with E-Governance instituted in the delivery of government services, the incoming administration can similarly be the agent of change on how the needs of the public can be served.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Virgilio L. Peña
Quelle/Source: BusinessWorld Online, 21.06.2010
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