GOVERNMENT agencies need to ensure that “their vital services are digitalized immediately,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Monday as he touted his administration’s digitalization push.
“Government must fully embrace digitalization to provide better service to the people through its vital frontline services and its backend functions,” Marcos said during his second State of the Nation Address.
He said digitalization will support the government’s data-driven and science-based planning and decision-making.
“It is the greatest, most powerful tool not just to improve the ease of doing business, but also against many forms of graft and corruption,” he added.
Marcos highlighted the significance of the recent launch of the eGovPH super app.
“As envisioned, all key government services are to be integrated into a single and centralized mobile app for the convenience of the general public,” Marcos said.
The President said part of his digitalization push was the signing of the SIM (subscriber identity module) card registration law, which he said would protect mobile users in the Philippines from “risks and vulnerabilities that can lead to negative consequences.”
“Digital users and consumers shall be protected from identity theft, phishing and other online scams through essential systems and safeguards, such as cybersecurity, data privacy, consumer complaint mechanisms, and financial literacy campaigns,” he said.
As of July 19, 104,076,843 SIM cards have been registered in the country, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said.
Internet speeds ‘improving’
Marcos said internet speeds in the Philippines have improved this year, citing Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index.
He said the country’s fixed broadband speed had climbed to 47th out of 180 countries last June, 11 places higher than last year’s rankings. According to the index, the Philippines had an average download speed of 92.84 megabits per second (Mbps) on fixed broadband.
The country’s mobile speeds were also up by eight places, Marcos said, ranking 83rd out of 142 countries. The Philippines’ average mobile download speed was 26.98 Mbps, according to Ookla.
Marcos attributed these improvements to “system upgrades,” vowing more improvements in the future as the Philippines’ internet infrastructure “undergoes further upgrades.”
He highlighted the arrival of Elon Musk’s Starlink to the Philippines last February, as well as the government’s national fiber backbone and broadband ng masa projects. (ABS-CBN News)
