President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday asked government agencies to adopt e-governance to improve the delivery of services to the public as the country launched the eGov Super App, the country’s first one-stop-shop platform for national and local government services.
In his speech during the launching of the eGov SuperApp at Malacañang Palace in Manila, Marcos said that the government must keep up with the rapid pace of technological adoption and facilitate the development of interconnectivity infrastructure.
“Our Government must keep up with that frantic pace, and it is frantic, and facilitate the rapid development of our interconnectivity infrastructure to allow our economy to ride the wave and open up an ocean of opportunities for prosperity,” Marcos said.
The President also stressed that the country “cannot compete on an even basis unless you are highly digitalized both in the private and public sectors.”
Marcos reiterated what he said during his first address to the nation last year: “We are in the midst of an age of exponential adoption of technology.”
He added that the Philippines had fallen behind in e-governance, citing a survey showing that only five percent of Filipinos do their transactions with the government online.
“We cannot do (transactions) online with the government. We have to go to the office. We have to collect the birth certificate, documentation, and clearance, then go to the government office. They say: ‘You’re missing one document,’ and the Filipinos must return to that office. And they do all of these things,” Marcos added.
To address this, Marcos said that the government is pushing for the passage of the E-Governance Act of 2022, which would promote the use of ICT in government operations.
The bill –– which House Speaker Martin Romualdez, House Senior Deputy Majority Leader Sandro Marcos, and Tingog Sinirangan Party-List Representatives Yedda Marie Romualdez and Jude Acidre filed last June 2022 –– would establish a national e-governance framework and create a central agency to oversee its implementation.
Marcos said that the E-Governance Act is “essential” to the government’s goal of transforming the economy.
“This is going to be another building block in the foundation of our economic transformation,” Marcos said.
He also mentioned the issuance of the national ID is critical or that is important or that’s necessary for the conduct of business with the government.
Now that the Department of Information and Communications Technology launched the eGovPH “super app,” Marcos said the Philippines could compete with neighbors in the global market.
“This is a very good step, and we will continue to push this; we will need the partnership, not only of our government agencies but also of the private sector because the private sector also has concerns in this regard, especially when it comes to cybersecurity,” Marcos said.
The e-GovPH super app, considered a one-stop-shop platform for local and national government services, could be downloaded in the Google Play and Apple application stores.
Among transactions that could be done in the application include SIM registration, local government unit services, job application, tourism information, start-up empowerment, healthcare information, and feedback.
To use all the application functionalities, one should sign up and undergo identity verification, including submitting a live selfie.
Once the initial verification is complete, users will receive an eGov Digital ID and a QR code. However, according to DICT Secretary Ivan Uy, not all government agencies are currently integrated with the application. Still, efforts are underway to establish those connections.