Gatchalian renews push for digitalization to end corruption in gov't
In order to combat the continuing widespread corruption in government, state agencies should pursue digitalization or accelerate digitization in their processes and transactions, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said on Friday, June 10.
“All government collections should be paperless or done through electronic means. It’s high time that we push the digital transformation of government services,” Gatchalian said.
Gatchalian, who is being considered to be the next Senate Committee on Ways and Means chair, said the long queues people have to endure whenever making any transaction in government has led a number of them to approach fixers to expedite their transactions.
That is why, the senator, he will push for the passage of the “Full Digital Transformation Act of 2022” which manadates all government offices, agencies, government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs), instrumentalities, and all local government units (LGUs) to adopt a digitalization strategy to facilitate efficient delivery in accordance with Republic Act No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.
The lawmaker said the measure mandates the creation of a Digital Transformation Department within a government agency or office which will provide a system that will allow and promote coordination among various departments or offices to ensure that workflows, responsibilities and accountabilities are properly tracked.
Such policy would allow the transacting public to know the status of their requests at any given time. The measure also seeks to design service processes and procedures that will promote efficiency and sense of expediency in the government.
“We can be assured of an expeditious and efficient mode of government collections while at the same time the public will be assured of convenience and transparency in their dealings with government agencies,” Gatchalian said.
“Ang mga mawawalan ng kita ay ang mga tiwaling kawani ng gobyerno (This way, those who will lose earnings are the corrupt officials in government),” he stressed.