Efforts to digitalize state agencies are gaining ground among lawmakers after another bill which seeks to shift government services to online platform was filed in the 19th Congress.
Bicolano legislators led by Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte filed the proposed electronic government or e-government services, embodied in House Bill (HB) 277.
Other Camarines Sur lawmakers, Reps. Miguel Luis Villafuerte and Tsuyoshi Anthony Horibata, and Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Nicolas Enciso were the co-authors.
They sought the passage of the measure to develop and interlink e-government services “so the Philippines can get ahead of the curve in the post-pandemic new normal".
In a statement, Villafuerte also said the digitalization of government services would provide easier access to Filipinos while it further improve the ease of doing business and brush up the country’s image as a top investment haven.
The was filed after Romualdez, Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand Alexander Marcos, and Tingog Party-list Reps. Yedda Marie Romualdez and Jude Acidre filed HB 3 or the “E-Governance Act of 2022”, which aims to to shift to digital platforms for the delivery of more transparent and efficient services.
The proposed E-Governance Act is based largely on the previously filed Senate Bill (SB) 1738, which was stuck at the committee level when the 18th Congress ended.
Villafuerte said HB 277 will allow the Marcos administration to fully utilize the newly-created Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) to integrate Information and Communications Technology (ICT) development in all state offices.
The bill directs the DICT to craft and implement an "E-Government Master Plan", which includes the integration of the citizen frontline services of all agencies handling business registration.
At the same time, it will pave the way for the digitization of archives and records management information systems (MIS) across all offices, and adoption of an Internet-based electronic payment facility to enable people and companies to remit payments electronically to agencies.
“More efficient government services through the proposed E-Government seek to minimize corruption by minimizing the human intervention component in government transactions,” said Villafuerte, who is a former deputy speaker.
He initially filed the E-Government bill in the 17th Congress, or just before the pandemic struck in 2020.