WIDER internet connectivity is crucial for the government’s push to digitize its transactions, advocacy group Better Internet PH said.
“We keep on saying that we want digitalization, that we want e-government and we actually now have a super app. How can people access these apps, how can organizations, schools, businesses digitalize if they don’t have connectivity?” the group’s lead advocate Grace Mirandilla-Santos said in a media seminar sponsored by the US Embassy in Manila.
Secure implementation of e-government also requires a national policy that will promote information security, which could come in the form of an executive order by the President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., she said.
“This way, the public can be confident that e-government services are safe and secure,” Mirandilla-Santos said.
Government agencies this week agreed to expand the services of the eGov app that would standardize payment processing and speed up issuance of permits, among others.
In the initial stage, e-government has the potential to prevent petty graft and theft linked to tasks that do not involve discretion, such as submitting printed forms in person, Mirandilla-Santos said.
“However, if e-government is limited to these things, it’s unlikely to stamp out big-time kickbacks from, say, rigged bids, bloated projects or the purchase of favors where government officials have discretion,” she told ABS-CBN News.
“E-government can only go so far; it can’t change our values overnight. That said, e-government must be initiated, developed, and expanded to cover more and more activities, until it becomes the norm. Once citizens get a taste of faster and more efficient services, there’s no turning back. (ABS-CBN News)
