In his keynote speech at the National ICT Summit read by DOST-ICT Office Undersecretary Louis Casambre, DOST Sec. Mario Montejo bared their plan to advance the country’s EGDI ranking from 95th to at least 50th by 2016. The present ranking was a downgrade of 17 places from the country’s 2012 ranking of 78th.
“(T)he Philippines is currently ranked 95th. This is not a number to brag about: it is a challenge for each and every one of us to improve on it,” Montejo said. “We still have two more years to uplift the pride of the country and hopefully create a better position on the global e-Governance ranking. We are hoping to hit the 50th rank or better.”
Montejo tagged e-Government, or the increased use of ICT tools and services in the public sector, as one of the pillars of the DOST-ICT Office.
The main blueprint of the DOST’s e-Governance platform is contained in the e-Government Master Plan, which outlines the goal toward a digitally connected government that has globally competitive IT services. The DOST also has the MITHI or the Medium-term Information and Communications Technology Initiative. MITHI is a joint initiative of the DOST-ICT Office with the Department of Budget and Management and the National Economic and Development Authority to synthesize the government’s ICT-related services. The Integrated Government Philippines Project or iGovPhil, meanwhile, aims to develop shared IT infrastructure — such as data centers and fiber-optic networks — within the bureaucracy.
“We need to promote an e-Government ready nation, because e-Governance can be a way to improve our global competitive edge — driving the Philippine economy by creating a friendly business environment for investors through ease of public service and transparency in governance,” Montejo said.
Considerable opportunity
In the 2014 EGDI survey of the UN, the Philippines is grouped within the middle EGDI cluster, higher than the low EGDI group, but below the high EGDI and the very high EGDI groups.
According to the UN, the middle and high EGDI clusters have a “considerable opportunity… to continue to advance their e-government development.”
“With clear strategies, smart investments in ICT infrastructure, continued investment in primary, secondary and tertiary education as well as through radical transformation in offering online public services, governments can achieve more to follow the upward trend,” the UN said.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Jose Bimbo F. Santos
Quelle/Source: InterAksyon, 04.07.2014
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